www.boyfrombrazil.co.uk players of the season

1. Dean Windass

   What can you say when one of the few remaining City players on the field who is older than you is running around in the way you wish you could have done when you were half his age.

   Dean Windass is a cut above the division in skill, in nouse and while he maintains the fitness and sharpness he has shown this season will carry on scoring into his Stanley Matthews years.

   His 27 League One goals make him top goalscorer in a team which has sometimes struggled to score goals for sure but more they put out a signal of intent for the next few years from the man himself.

   You did not expect Dean Windass to go quietly into that Good Night did you?

2. Steven Schumacher

   An outstanding first season from a player who is the find of the season. Getting kicked out of a Premiership club in the same summer as the guy you used to pass to was playing for England in Euro 2004 could be a kick in the teeth for some but Steven Schumacher rolled up his sleeves and got on with the job of carving out a career for himself at Valley Parade.

   In a few weeks he looked good. In a few months be was secure in the first team and after his first year, still only 21, he is in the heart of City’s midfield that prepares for a promotion push in 2005/6.

   Expect big things from this kid for sure but note that unlike so many of his age – Schumacher has delivered on his promise already.

3. Mark Bower

   What the Hell was Bryan Robson thinking when he gave Jason Gavin the nod over home grown excellence in Mark Bower.

   Calm, solid and never afraid to leather the ball as far away as possible Bower has had a fine season and one recognised by his peers getting the player’s play of the year.

4. Paul Henderson

   Remember him?

   Until Paul Henderson knocked back a contract with City he was being spoken about in the same breath as Mark Schwartzer and rightly so.

   Hendo might not be around next season but his saves – especially the penalty against Luton – live long in the memory.

5. Ben Muirhead

   Beating out the calmness of David Wetehrall and the skill of Nicky Summerbee for our fifth place is the pure improvement of Ben Muirhead.

   Going nowhere under Bryan Robson – literally in some cases – someone grabbed Muirhead and told him that possession in football is all about leaving the team in a better position then you give up the ball then they were when you got it.

   Ben’s season has not been mazy runs which go nowhere but a series of excellent darts down wings and tackle takes which got us throw-in and kept the pressure on. Most improved player and perhaps the one to watch next term.

Best wins

1. At Tranmere Rovers who are chasing the play-offs, City are on a roll. 5-4, unforgettable and the best game of this and many a season.
2. Easy, Easy, Easy. Bradford City 2 Huddersfield Town 0.
3. Who gave City a chance away at Hull City’s spanking new stadium? Very few but Darren Holloway give us the win.
4. Brian Tinnion’s side were tipped for promotion but City stolled it over Bristol City 4-1 at Valley Parade.
5. The came chasing the play-offs but spent the afternoon chasing a big scoring 36 year old when AFC Bournemouth were tanked 4-2 at VP.

Best goals

1. Nicky Summerbee’s free kick in the 5-4 win at Tranmere was part of that feast of football.
2. Dean Windass’s lob over the Brentford keeper at Valley Parade.
3. Cometh the hour, cometh Owen Morrison’s first goal for City – a Blake style dribbled and shot against Huddersfield.
4. Darren Holloway does not score many goals until he found out what his left foot was for with the 35 yard screamer at Hull City.
5. It is that man again… Danny Forrest gets three points at Brentford with a mazy run and confident finish.

Five Shipley Bantams get over excited.

City were the bee’s knees away from Valley Parade and The Shipley Bantams saw them all. BfB asked the SB’s Matt Barnes to take the temperature of the members and give us a top five…

1. Tranmere Rovers – 5-4 win
   “I was there” will be the phrase used by many City fans on reflection of this game – which was the greatest of adverts for the “beautiful game” – goals of note by Nicky Summerbee (free kick) and Ben Muirhead (great run and finish).
2. TB’s (Huddersfield Town) – 1-0 win
   Does anymore need to be said? Apart from “who are ya, who are ya, who are ya……” The gobby little town Puppy’s tamed in their kennel, great early Xmas present!! Owen Morrison was the Hudders heartbreaker.
3. Wendy’s/pigs (Sheffield Wednesday) – 2-1 win
   The win saw the double over the “worlds biggest club” (at least thats what their fans think), made even sweeter by Owen Tesco ramming Owls taunts back down their beaks with the last minute winner!!
4. Mudrats/Codheads (Hull City) – 1-0 win
   Hardly a classic, but at least the world (well at least Sky viewers) got to see the “worlds 2nd biggest club” beaten in their own back fish market, 35 yard screamer from Darren Holloway settled the dour affair!
5. Brentford – 2-1 win
   It must have been the site of open terracing, and the thought of Dads telling kids “this is how we used to watch football” that tempted the 600 or so hardy Bantams down to the capital, they weren’t disappointed either, a great victory, and a bizarre debut by Zema Abbey – a cracking goal followed by a sending off, all in the first 15 minutes. Danny Forrest (gump) got a great 2nd to help us all forget the cold miserable weather!!

Coming through for next season

1. Pushing to be in the starting eleven at twenty next year will be the season of John Swift.
2. Balding central defender Sam Denton could be City’s brightest spark this season with the Le Boeuf-esque song “His Mum cuts his hair and he is every-effing-where…”
3. Ever wondered why Steve Schumacher had to be on his game week in, week out? We are still waiting for the break through of City’s own Zidane Tom Penford but he is coming – Schumacher be warned.
4. John Swift is good but word has it Danny Ellis is better.
5. I predict a riot, I predict Kevin Sanasy.

Five things which happened as a result of Joe Ross

1. City did not get a break from referees all season.
2. Joe Ross never got to referee at Valley Parade after Colin Todd vowed to throw him out should he set foot in the stadium.
3. City fans understood why – if not condoned – Chester boss Mark Wright had racially abused Ross a few years ago.
4. BfB asked the question “Referees: Bloody biased or bloody rubbish” and got no response.
5. Complainants from Bantams fans about referees became so common that the rest of the division started to say “How can you tell if Bradford City have lost? You can hear them moan about the referee.”

This was the season that…

• City fans got back into the business of following City with The Shipley Bantams begetting the BCISC.
• City did a deal to come out administration but only after a keystone cop’s style chase of Ashley Ward around the Sheffield United training complex.
• Nicky Summerbee redefined the term “could not careless”.
• The debate over Danny Forrest “making it” continued oblivious to the fact he kept scoring winning goals in away games.
• And never, ever forget that this was the season Bradford City went to Huddersfield and won, then beat them at Valley Parade.

Todd’s job: What the gaffer needs to do to make City a promotion outfit next season

1. Do not be enchanted by Marc Bridge-Wilkinson in central midfeld. Sure MBW and Steven Schumacher can look good against a Brentford team which do not care but for the serious League One season Todd needs to go with Tom Kearney and Schumacher in the heart of City’s midfield.
2. Get Owen Morrison playing well week-in-week-out. The guy is a bewitching talent but so far has played wildly from mystifyingly brilliant to mystifyingly bad. Todd needs to get the best out of Morrison every week.
3. Get someone with power up front. Dean Windass and Andy Cooke are both good players but City need a blunderbuss option to batter down opposition defences. Todd needs to find the target man who accepts he is one of a squad of strikers and then he needs to make sure the rest of the team do not get lazy and remember to play football despite the easy outlet option.
4. Make sure he augments his first team squad with the likes of John Swift and Tom Penford. It cost City £300,000 a year to run the youth set up and Todd needs reap that harvest and improving the quality of those players by allowing them access to the first team squad.
5. Keep Dean Windass sharp. Another 20+ season from Windass would be very good.

Five things we need to build on next season

1. Colin Todd. City have got a good manager doing a good job. We need to not throw all that in in favour of getting another flashy but eventually ineffective boss – Yes Bryan Robson, this means you.
2. The Bradford City Independent Supporters Clubs are the best thing to happen off the field at Valley Parade in ages. Fans getting involved in supporting the club and doing it away from the club.
3. Steven Schumacher. Second seasons, like second albums, are tough and full of ups and downs. City need to hold nerve with Schumacher through any bad times that come.
4. The kids. We have a chance to build a squad which is not bloated with senior professional or jobbing players. If we get the contracts right we can have a conveyer belt of talent and not a bottle neck of hopefuls.
5. This is the last second chance we have. City need to make sure that this time we have learned the lessons of financial mismanagement and City fans need to think before they call for the cash to be flashed.