www.boyfrombrazil.co.uk players of the season

1. Benito Carbone

   You, yes you Mr. Jurno working for the Maily Express (sic) who knew it all and confidently predicted that the little Italian would be on his way when things went wrong. You should hang your head in shame.

   Things have gone bad for Bradford City, but Benito Carbone has not been the reason for that and, significantly, he has stayed around through the pitiful number of wins and a two month spell not even getting in the Reserves. Beni has trained, never went awol, never moaned and most importantly, never gave any less than 100% on the pitch. In a season of so few highlights most of them came from the Italian’s improbably small feet: Stan Collymore’s overhead kick against Leeds was from a Beni cross, as was Dan Petrescu’s late header at West Ham. The stunners at Boro and Ipswich were solo efforts from Carbone and the one decent home win of this term, 2-0 against Chelsea, was crafted by Carbone.

   The lack of wins and points, the Stan issue, the waste of space that was Dan Petrescu, the injury to David Wetherall that robbed us of our stablilty… all these things that have seen us ushered out of the Premiership in a season when we hoped for a little more can not be laid at the door of Benito. Those people who took a pop should be forced to learn Italian and apoligise to Benito for questioning his professionalism at the start of the season. It looks like Beni will go in the Summer, probably for the best as Jim Jefferies crafts a team of steel, but we shall miss the little guy and, hopefully, the little guy may miss us and what might have been.

2. Gary Walsh

   Shame on Matt Clarke for assuming that he should get an automatic position ahead of Gary Walsh. Bided his time, waited for his chance and, after the odd blip (Man U at home), got back on top form. Looks set for a reply of his 1998-99 form in 2001-2002.

   Players player of the year for 2000-1.

3. Stuart McCall

   It is easy to forget what a wretched season this has been for Stuart. He must have started it thinking that he was about to begin the end of this playing years by sliding City into Premiership respectability a la Leicester City, he ended up manager of Stan Collymore.

   Nevertheless through it all he has put in a fine level of performance and once again been a credit to Bradford City. Next season should be more unfinished business. Stuart will want to finish his last season in pro football (he says) by putting the Bantams back in the top flight.

   Could have figured higher had the Leeds brawl with Andy Myers not sullied his season. Promise of promotion next season warms the heart though.

4. Wayne Jacobs

   Players come, players go, Wayne Jacobs remains the best left back at the club.

5. Stanley Victor Collymore

   He came, he saw, he overhead kicked the bastard into the net and then he nicked off.

Finest victories

1. 2-0 stunner over Chelsea at VP
2. 7-2 at home to Darlington
3. 2-0 stroll in the park against Charlton
4. 2-1 sneak attack at Leicester City
5. 2-0 tussle vs Derby

Worst moments

1. 5-1 down to Leeds and Stuart Mc has just headbutted Andy Myers
2. Gary Walsh limping out of the warm up at Leeds to join Wetherall and Molenaar on the bench leaving Davison, Nolan, Myers, Halle and Jacobs to play as a collective Neville Southall.
3. Playing Man U to a stand still, ball back to Gary Walsh, he swings, he misses…
4. Mark Viduka levels it up for Leeds at VP
5. Selling Andy O’Brien and Dean Windass in two weeks
6. Kevin Rat Boy Phillips on Boxing Day
7. Dean Windass misses an open net up at Sunderland
8. Realising that Hutch just was not going to work
9. Finding out that Dan Petrescu not only looked like the guy off the X Files but played like him too

Best goals

1. Stan Collymore’s overhead kick on his debut against Leeds
2. Benito Carbone’s thunderbolt at Ipswich
3. Peter Beagrie’s ball ona string dibble and low shot to beat Coventry at Valley Parade, Beagrie’s final goal for City.
4. Beni’s controlled shot from the edge of the box at Boro
5. Ashley Ward crowns a fine move with a low finish against Derby

Five biggest disappointments

1. Dan Petrescu
2. Stan Collymore not doing what he did to Leeds to anyone else
3. Missing two penaties against Everton to go down
4. Chris Hutchings
5. Losing 1-0 to Boro in the FA Cup after playing them off the park

Five mistakes and what we should learn from them

1. Fight them, not us.
2. That management is not to be trusted to the unqualified. Kamara and Jewell did it well, Hutchings did not. In future lets err on the side of caution and only appoint people who have done the job before.
3. When playing Leeds, sign as many goalkeepers as is possible.
4. That big money signings can work, but only if the character of the signing is up to scratch. Beni good, Petrescu bad.
5. That Andy Myers has a powerful left on him.

Magic moments. Five things about 2000-2001 we will remember forever (in a good way)

1. Stan Collymore’s overhead kick. So very, very good.
2. The Benito Carbone Press Conference.
3. Bradford City 2 Chelsea 0.
4. Beni Carbone’s deft lob into the Charlton goal from some 35 yards.
5. Ashley Ward’s late goal spurt

The silver linings to the cloud of 2000-1

1. Jim Jefferies is the most capable Bradford City manager for years, if not ever.
2. We saw Beni Carbone, and he was brilliant.
3. The new stand is nearly built and will provide an extra source of income.
4. We showed at the end of the season that managed correctly even a modest squad can perform at the top level reguardless of the numbers of big names in the team.
5. No matter how badly we did, Town went down!