The Bradford View: Meredith’s importance

This is likely to be Bradford City’s third straight season between third and seventh in League One. To some, this represents steady progress for a club that was promoted from the fourth tier as recently as 2013. Others though, might suggest that a club gaining 18k supporters at every home game should be in the Championship. Will they be there next season? Supporter Katie Whyatt (@BantamsBlogger) shares her views.

This has been Bradford’s first season in the post-Parky era and you were among many fans who approached it with caution. Has it gone better than you expected?

For sure, and I think pretty much everyone would agree with me on that. With all of the upheaval – the new owners, McCall coming in late into the off-season, City beginning their summer recruiting a few weeks behind everyone else – everyone expected a transition season, rightfully, and most probably a mid-table finish. But that anxiety almost seems comically misplaced, looking back. Right from week one, City’s build-up play looked so cohesive and fluid, and the players were speaking so highly about McCall’s coaching style – it felt like it all fell into place almost overnight. This squad haven’t been as clinical as you’d have liked them to be at times, arguably, and are always prone to one error that undoes them. But the most striking thing is how quickly the owners’ visions for the club – the playing style, their plans to bring in younger players, their movement in the transfer market, their promise to keep ticket prices low and to really understand Bradford as a city – have been borne out in reality.

Having lost their head in Parkinson, Bradford’s players have kept their heads on the field with the league’s best disciplinary record. Is this something Stuart McCall has changed? If so, is it a good thing?

Truthfully, it’s not something I’d noticed or considered until you’d pointed it out. I don’t think Parkinson’s sides were ever belligerent, but they were pragmatic, and, with hindsight, you could argue you had players in that side – Gary Liddle, Tony McMahon, James Hanson – who were always liable to pick up, justifiably or otherwise, a few cards, being as physical as they were. I don’t think it’s something McCall’s consciously changed – I think it’s probably more of a by-product of the change in style, if anything.

You’ve got the league’s second best goals against record, despite a few leakages over January and February. Are you surprised at the criticism Colin Doyle has faced?

Again, I keep my finger on the pulse, but I’m not an avid Twitter or message board user, so criticism like that tends to bypass me a little. Thinking about it, I’m not really sure why Doyle would come in for disproportionately more criticism than the rest of the back four. What’s undone City time and again this season is, simple as it sounds, carelessness after failing to capitalise on periods of prolonged dominance. If you want to condemn Doyle, there are so many others you can point fingers at for poor closing down, poor clearances, committing to challenges too early – there have been a whole litany of errors. That said, it’s not something that’s structural – it’s just these Sliding Doors moments that have cost them points.

With new defenders coming into the side and other stalwarts playing fewer games, how important has James Meredith been at left-back?

He’s hugely important. With Meredith, the trying thing was that he had two huge injuries in his first two seasons that kept him out for a while; City have since had two good seasons with him, and he’s fit seamlessly into McCall’s up-tempo style. He is instrumental into what the team try going forward, and his intelligence in the final third, to make the runs he does, is really gripping. When you speak to him, too, it’s obvious he’s very insightful, very perceptive. He thinks deeply about the game, considers things on a very technical level. Like all of them, he’s understood McCall’s vision from the outset, and backed that up with his performances.

Josh Cullen’s tidy performances in midfield have earned him international recognition with Ireland Under-21s. Has he benefited from playing alongside the more experienced Nicky Law?

I think so, but I think what’s probably been more beneficial – and maybe less glaring now, given he’s spent almost a whole season in this system – is the changed style, and the increased mobility he now has. Under Parkinson, Cullen was in a midfield two that played really, really deeply. He was a cut above the rest, and his quality was obvious, but, having seen him this season, there’s a new dynamism and mobility about him that was probably a little more latent last time out, and he’s added a bit more guile to his game. Nicky Law very much set the tone in midfield, in how he headed up all the interchanging, but Cullen’s emulated that, and, arguably, teamed it with a little more positional discipline.

It’s fair to say you’ve not always been clinical in front of goal. Can Charlie Wyke become the natural finisher needed?

The early signs are positive. I remember the week after he signed, one of the people on our podcast, Alex, pointed out that Charlie Wyke had, since November 12th, scored 12 goals in 15 games – that was the same number City had got, as a team, over the same period of time. It was a team’s worth of work, essentially. He has a physical side to his game, but what you saw in his goal on Saturday was this little bit of nous and finesse – to have the confidence to guide it onto his left foot from close range, in the final minute, and nudge it past the keeper was really impressive. Some of his finishes, as well – there’s an opportunistic streak about him that I don’t think we’ve seen at Valley Parade for a while. There’s a hype around him but he seems to relish that, so we’ll see how it goes – but the early signs are favourable.

You predicted midtable in the summer, but it’s likely that you’ll be in the play-offswith Millwall, Scunthorpe and either Bolton or Fleetwood. How do you rate your chances against those teams?

Fairly chilled, I think? There are seven games left, so it’s still premature to make a definite call on what the top six is going to look like: it could be Southend or Millwall in sixth, Bolton could fall back in, Scunthorpe could really drop out, Fleetwood could enter the automatics… For what it’s worth, I think Parkinson will see Bolton over the line, and after that… I’d probably be most wary of Millwall, because their goal threat is obvious, they’ve looked good in the FA Cup and they’ve not lost in the league since – what? – December? Fleetwood are a decent side, but you absolutely fancy City to handle the other contenders. Millwall, I think, would be the most dangerous – but that’s to their credit, not because of any shortcomings City have.