The king has had his coronation, now let’s have the Bradford summation…
A team who suffered play-off heartbreak against Carlisle… yeah, we know that feeling guys
Monday 26 June 2023
NEXT HOME GAME: Huddersfield - Saturday 22 July, 3pm
NEXT AWAY GAME: Lincoln (in Spain!) - Friday 7 July, 4pm (Click here for our away day guide)
Dear County fans, Stopfordians, and any Bradford supporters joining us today, a very warm welcome to your Monday edition of The Scarf My Father Wore.
We could have found ourselves facing Bradford at Wembley last month, but Ben Barclay’s late extra-time winner broke Bantams hearts in the semi-final, and condemned the Yorkshire club to a fifth consecutive season in League Two. Tim Penfold from The Width of a Post joins us today to reflect on the last year in BD8.
Finally, a big thank you to Lee at On-Point Construction for sponsoring today’s edition.
Des Junior
Had King Charles invited you to his coronation celebrations, and insisted you brought him the best food you’d experienced inside a League Two ground this season, what would you have treated him to?
I don’t normally buy food at football grounds, mostly because it’s expensive and rubbish (much like many of our signings over the years). The pepperoni pizza twist at Valley Parade was vaguely acceptable compared to everything else, so that’ll have to do.
Charles is now king of the UK. But who would you choose to be crowned king of Valley Parade, and who would be locked up in the tower? You can pick anybody who’s had some sort of connection with the club this season.
While we’re very glad that the UK has avoided a King Andrew, our own Andy Cook – the best player in League Two last season – is the obvious King of Valley Parade.
I’m not sure who would end up in the tower – the ownership isn’t hugely popular but has gained a lot of credit for not selling us to the crypto bros that bought Crawley. Maybe Kian Harratt, whose loan spell ended in disgrace when he was convicted for hare coursing.
Best moment of 2022-23?
Walking out of Rochdale away with several thousand other Bantams after a comfortable victory and results around us going our way. At that point, promotion was in our own hands.
Worst moment of 2022-23?
We’ve just scrambled an equaliser against Carlisle in extra-time in the play-offs, and it was all down to the work of Scott Banks – our outstanding player over the two games. So of course we immediately sub Banks off for a centre-back to hang on for penalties, and it doesn’t work – the extra defender is nowhere to be seen as we instantly concede. That said, you could pick basically any time we looked like we might threaten promotion – we repeatedly dropped points when it looked like we might get above 4th.
Funniest moment of 2022-23?
This is a tie between that magnificent piece of Yann Songo’o skill at home to yourselves, and Harry Lewis mixing up a rugby 22 line with the edge of his own penalty area at Newport and picking up a yellow card for handball as a result.
Four Four Two said you’d finish 4th. When Saturday Comes said you’d finish 2nd. You finished 6th. Discuss.
We always do well in the pre-season predictions, regardless of whether we’ve actually been competent in the summer – we’re a big club for this level with a very big name in charge. We did OK in the end, and not too far off the predictions, but finished about where the team should’ve finished – a few more coin flips coming up heads (or Plymouth not swooping in for Tyreik Wright at the last minute in January) and we might’ve had a lucky promotion.
Bradford 0 County 1 in October. County 0 Bradford 0 in January. Thoughts?
At home, we got thumped – your high press stopped us playing out from the back, and we got bullied, then you shut down our tactical shift immediately in the second half.
Away, we came for a point and just about got one. I didn’t want to face you in the play-offs based on those games.
Best and worst away days of 2022-23?
Of the few I did, the best was Rochdale for reasons mentioned above.
The worst was Carlisle in the play-offs, simply for the gut-wrenching result.
After decades travelling around the world, Sir David Attenborough’s most recent BBC documentary covered Great Britain. Let’s imagine David and his crew have been filming Bradford fans throughout the 2022-23 season. In that famous voice of his, how would he describe them?
“And here we see the common and numerous Bantams in their home territory. A noisy bunch as long as they are entertained, the City fans come in so many types. We can hear one, frustrated by another sideways pass, shouting “GET IT FORRAD!”, only to then shout “RUBBISH” when the player follows his instruction and hoofs it aimlessly to the opposition. Others clap along happily, no matter what fare is served up in front of them. The Bantams travel in numbers to areas controlled by other clubs. Loud and mostly peaceful, this does bring out the aggressive side in the dimmer members of the group, who mindlessly lob flares after goals, even when it stops the game for five minutes and kills the team’s momentum. Still, they are generally a reasonable bunch – happy, numerous and often quite drunk.”
With Wrexham up and MK Dons down, there’s a couple of teams coming into League Two who generally cause quite a lot of debate wherever they go. You’re on Moonpig.com buying a welcome card for both of them. What messages are going inside?
MK Dons get a list of all the reasons they deserve to be a Football League club – so a blank page.
Wrexham get a lengthy love letter to Phil Parkinson, the best manager this club has had in living memory. Once I’ve finished detailing the joys of our cup runs and memorable moments – Wigan, Arsenal, Villa, the League Cup final (before kick-off at least), promotion, Leeds, Chelsea – there will then be a short postscript calling Shaun Harvey a four letter word.
Click on the links below to read the previous 2022-23 reviews we’ve published so far.
Barrow / Carlisle / Colchester / Crawley / Crewe / Gillingham / Grimsby / Hartlepool / Leyton Orient / Mansfield / Newport / Northampton / Rochdale / Stevenage / Sutton / Swindon / Tranmere / Walsall / Wimbledon
On-Point Construction – building tomorrow’s history
On-Point Construction was formed in 2017, with one of their first projects in Knutsford, laying the foundations on Wayne Rooney’s new house. From there the business has gone from strength to strength across Cheshire, also renovating the old farmhouse in Alderley Edge where Dietmar Hamann used to live. Recently, the company has built many extensions in the area, as well as paving numerous driveways and extracting a number of chimney breasts. They price aggressively to win work without sacrificing on quality, never missing a deadline with a long list of happy clients that recommend their services. If you’re looking for a quote on any building work at the moment, give Lee a call.
Click here for contact details.
Today in SK
☕️ Food and drink ☕️
Kebabs are just £3 all day at Fishers of Cheshire (SK2).
Pub Grub menu available at the Andrew Arms (SK6) from 12pm till 2pm and 4pm till 8pm. Kids eat free on a Monday. T&Cs apply.
Med Monday at TRUNK (SK7) between 12pm and 9pm. Enjoy three tapas dishes for £15. T&Cs apply.
❓Quiz night ❓
The George & Dragon (SK7). 7.30pm.
The Scarf My Father Wore works closely with venues on a daily basis to bring you the most comprehensive guide to all of the best offers and events taking place across the whole SK region. Click on the links below for full details of everything taking place in your area over the next few weeks.
SK1 / SK2 / SK3 / SK4 / SK5 / SK6 / SK7 / SK8 / SK9 / SK10 / SK11 / SK12 / SK13 / SK14 / SK15 / SK16 / SK17 / SK22 / SK23
Photo of the day
Tony Barras in a York hat after leaving Edgeley Park in the 90s.
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One thing I’ve noticed in recent years the best manager we’ve had is not Phil Parkinson, who was good, it was Paul Jewell. Jewell seems to be the forgotten man at City, he led us to the Premiership and kept us up for the season he was there. Not even Parky did that.