BfB

The end is nigh. No one is sure what it is the end of.

It is the end of the football season for teams in League Two who do not trouble the play-offs and a season which promised much to some, less to others but delivered next to nothing at all and that end is greeted with a sense of near delight.

It is hard to imagine how much worse 2010/2011 could have been for Bradford City. BfB have a rule of thumb to not use the word disaster to talk about anything other than a disaster but it had cropped up on messages here and elsewhere to talk about a year which started badly and got worse.

From the second half at Shrewsbury Town to today there has been little to enjoy and much to worry about. Peter Taylor – and make no mistake about this – is a manager capable of getting a team promoted from League Two and neither he nor his replacement Peter Jackson could muster a City team which could get much more than about 1.15 points per game.

From a footballing point of view the only thing one can say about this season and the rapidity of its climax is that while one might badly want this to end there is no indication that next season has any potential to be any better.

No better and perhaps worse because this could be the end of football at Valley Parade. It is much talked about how Mark Lawn wants a cut in the rent on the stadium and offices and seems prepared to take the club away from Valley Parade if he does not get it. There are so many questions about this – What would be the impact of defaulting on the rent? What about the Nike deal? Where would the club be run from? – an no answers.

Perhaps someone will come onto the field before the game to announce that City will always have a home at Valley Parade – we have heard that before – but in all likelihood City fans will leave VP at five o’clock on Saturday not knowing if they will ever set foot in the stadium ever again.

What an abject indictment of the state of Bradford City in 2011 that is.

If there is an end to football at Valley Parade there is an end to professional football in Bradford after over one hundred years. The latest rumours say that City will look to move into Halifax’s The Shay should a deal not be reached over the rent but this is all just gossip and is in any case based on the idea that were the club to try go into administration it would emerge out the other side.

There is another end. The end of Bradford City. If City default on the payments on the ground and rent having not made a deal with the landlords and a winding up order is issued by either then the club would seek administration as protection from that and that protection is not always granted. There is no formality in this and there are scenarios – unlikely ones – where the club try to escape the ground and offices deals and end up facing a mountain of inescapable problems. Certainly there are people at Valley Parade who do not see where funding for next season is coming from.

Another indictment. One will hope that at five o’clock we will not have watched our final Bradford City game but one will fear a summer without a certainty that that is not the case.

So here it is. The final game of something.

Perhaps of Peter Jackson’s time as City manager or perhaps not. The position of interim manager until an appointment seemed to seep into being a week to week gaffer. Having achieved little better than the results which saw his predecessor removed Jackson might get the nod to continue as the Bantams boss – and he might do a very good job – but the fact that he is a possible manager shows a club with no clear path forward, and no idea how to improve.

The players – subject of much criticism – who will play in this final game may be bolstered by some youngsters promoted though the ranks. Now that relegation worries have been put to bed the likes of Adam Robinson and Alex Fleet may be promoted to the first eleven.

Lenny Pidgeley out of contract in the summer but is expected to play. Lewis Hunt is signed up for next season and will as will Luke Oliver. Steve Williams and Robbie Threlfall are also both contracted for next season. Lee Bullock, who may feature rather than Williams, could be in the end of his City career. Luke O’Brien is signed up for another year.

Michael Flynn and David Syers are signed up for another season but Gareth Evans and Jon Worthington are out of contract and could be playing their final games for the club although both could be expected to sign if offered next deals. Omar Daley – recalled from Rotherham – also has no deal on the table from City and is reportedly the best paid player at a club cutting cost. This could be the end of Omar the Bantam.

James Hanson and Jake Speight are both contracted for next season and both are expected to play. Names we will not be hearing again include Tommy Doherty, Kevin Ellison and Tom Ademeyi.

These people may be remembered as the last players ever to play for Bradford City, or the last players to play at Valley Parade or – if we are lucky – just the players who played in the last game of a rotten season.