How much more of League Two can we take?

Today at 03:00 AM

By Jake Verity

Last weekend, I took some friends to Colchester that had never been to watch us before. As a Bantam based in London, I often try to take friends to away games down South. On the train from Liverpool Street, they asked about our squad and who the players were to watch (they both knew about Andy Cook without me even needing to introduce him).

I talked about how we had one of the most exciting academy prospects in years starting games for us. About the fact we managed to poach a once Championship captain in Smallwood two-and-a-half years ago. That we had last year's League Two right back of the season. When reading this on reflection, it doesn't sound all that great. But we're a League Two team and these are the small wins we can celebrate.

I then explained how we were blighted by injuries.That the serial promotion winner Sarcevic, our marquee signing, has been out for some time and we are missing him badly. How our most dynamic midfielder, Alex Pattison, is having another spell on the sidelines after spending most of last-season injured. That our best ball-playing centre back hasn't played since September, and one of his partners in Ciaran Kelly has been out for the same length of time.

Despite the fact we have injuries, I made it clear it's a decent enough squad for this level. That we had a striker low on confidence who was likely to partner Cook; but things should get better for him after he scored his first goal the other week. How Jamie Walker possesses plenty of quality for this division. That Clarke Odour has plenty of skill for this level and is a great utility player.

So combining my general enthusiasm and pride with a cursory glance at the league table, they came to the conclusion that Colchester would probably be an easy enough game for us.

On paper, it was a case of winning the match and we'd more than likely be in the play-offs. Should results go our way, we'd potentially be on the precipice of the automatics too. Lose and we miss out on yet another wonderful opportunity.

The enormous issue is that they took far too logical an approach to looking at a Bradford City fixture. I had to stop them and tell them the bad news. We have had countless games like this over the years and this is exactly the sort of fixture where we struggle.

Because going to an out of form Colchester side who have won eight of their last forty games should be a comfortable win for any team with a realistic hope of promotion. Just like a trip to a Fleetwood Town that hadn't won in five games should have been. But we walked away with one point from two games. Pitiful.

While I do try to be balanced, I often end up being a bit too optimistic when thinking about our prospects (see my above descriptions of our squad pre-Colchester). Not least because I want us to do well. We all do. But I’m running out of patience. Because put simply, it's just not good enough. We seem to be allergic to success sometimes.

Regaining some of that balance, I know there's a long way to go. We remain just outside the play-offs and this league is weak. Good players will come back from injury. We are in a period of poor form, but should eventually turn it around. But it's just so frustrating. I am so fed up with League Two. Aren't we all?

Looking at the first season we were back in League Two, only four clubs who are still members of the Football League besides ourselves haven't had a promotion. They are Colchester United, Salford City, Walsall and Newport County. That is not a list you want to be the last team on.

Analysing Alexander

Now look, Alexander does deserve some blame for the past two league games. A bizarre experiment against Fleetwood coupled with some odd choices for game management against Colchester have led to lost points. It's that simple.

Why on earth do we have Paul Huntington on the bench if he's not suitable to play? If there's ever going to be suitable context to bring on a 37-year-old defender who has experience of seeing out hundreds of games, it's this one. Why are we bringing on Vadaine Oliver when we should be looking to stretch the game away from our own box, not sit back and defend it? Most perplexingly, why on earth are we not getting at teams from the start who are lower down the division?

I am sympathetic to Alexander at the minute for two reasons. Firstly, it must be so frustrating trying to find a foil to Cook, with legacy options up-front who no doubt he wants rid of. He is paying the price for the club’s previously poor recruitment. Both Sanderson and Kavanagh, players who arrived under his tenure offer far more than other options, even if they are struggling in front of goal. Though the former had a tricky game on Saturday, and the latter was a big miss.

The second reason I'm sympathetic is he is getting a much harder time than he deserves. His record in charge of us is excellent on the whole. The major issue is these winless streaks (though they are often offset by good runs of form). On the whole he has a play-off form at the very least based on his record. With time, that should hopefully bear fruit. We’re currently in one of those streaks though. That's four without a win in the league now – plus a loss against Rotherham in the EFL Trophy last night.

There is no manager available either better than him, or willing to take the job. Fans must be realistic, we are possibly one of the least attractive options in the Football League in terms of managerial stints; relative success and weight of expectation. He must stay.

But it's also fair to say we can be critical if things don't improve in January. If he wants to stay as our manager he needs to improve the squad and win the argument in the boardroom to do so. We are not going to progress without doing that – and also find a way to keep players fit. A big failure this season.

A fortnight can change everything

The next two weeks have the potential to be a positive reset, or for things to get much worse. We play a very limited Accrington team at home. But paradoxically, it's possibly the worst fixture we could hope for. Their top scorer is Dara Costelloe. You can just see it, can't you?

If that's not bad enough, it's followed by a FA Cup Third Round game away against Derek Adams Morecambe. Again, the script writes itself.

If you could choose two fixtures for any club wanting to put an end to a poor spell of form, these are the ones you'd want. But both bring not only enormous jeopardy for us, but potentially real toxicity.

On the flip side, there's the outcome we all want. Beat Accrington 3-0 in front of a buoyant home crowd. Get a decent result away at Morecambe. Into the 3rd round and draw a Premier League club. If only it was that easy.

The worst part is if we do get through, we'll probably end up drawing Exeter away on a Monday night. I personally look forward to Morecambe's trip to the Etihad…

Rounding it all up

I feel whenever I write these pieces, I say we've always got big games ahead. It's true, though.. In this league we simply need to be winning every game possible if we want to get out of it.

Look at the last few seasons. Crawley at home cost us the play-offs last year in the end. A small gap on the final day would have been overturned, had we not given away a 2-1 lead back in January – even holding onto a draw would have been enough.

The season before it was Swindon and Crewe away that ended up being costly and consigned us to play-off failure against Carlisle. In a play-off race, it's fine margins that often end up being the difference. We're not even close to an automatic promotion race, yet.

I said a while ago we have to be ruthless in January. That remains more true than ever. We have no plan beyond Andy Cook up-front and run the real risk of our season being over in a matter of seconds should anything happen to him. We need to get rid of the strikers who don't score goals and bring in some ones that do at any cost. Stagnating in League Two forever is arguably worse than taking a calculated risk on a decent striker. After all, we've spent money before and had nothing to show for it so far, so why not take a real gamble?

When I originally wrote this, I was going to say it had been quiet – but an interview with David Sharpe on Tuesday was a useful listen. More of that is a good thing.

But that's just one interview and we probably deserve to hear more from the club. We can't keep being loyal forever and receive no outcome in return. At some point, patience will have to give. It feels like everything gets marginally worse the more time passes.

Because if I'm feeling this way, surely there are others who feel much worse. I am and will always be a loyal Bradford City fan. But at the minute I feel more of a sufferer than a supporter. We've been through it over and over again about the club and how it runs off the pitch. But maybe we are truly stuck here forever?

I hope I'm wrong. I really do. In fact I'd love nothing more for that to be the case.

But the only way it will be is if the club really does take this season seriously – we're already talking about January like it's our saviour because we've been here before – even if the league position is actually not too bad considering our injuries.

I honestly think these next two games probably define our season. The question is how?