SATURDAY, 30th NOVEMBER 2024.
Bradford Boss Must be a Worried Man after Bantams’ latest defeat.
Bradford City visited the Mazuma Mobile Stadium for the second time this season to compete in an FA Cup Second Round tie today. The last time they visited – on October 1st – they came from behind late on to draw 1-1 in a League Two fixture. In previous meetings with Morecambe, the Bantams have won ten of 22 games in all competitions and lost five. City got to this round by beating National League Aldershot 3-1 at Valley Parade. Meanwhile, the Shrimps had travelled all the way to the south coast to meet National League South club Worthing, who they overcame by two goals to nil on the day.
`Bratfud’ haven’t played a competitive game for two weeks: Storm Bert put paid to their scheduled visit to Accrington Stanley last Saturday. Their league form was iffy in the extreme though as they prepared to play today’s game: two losses and two draws in their last four League Two matches. Nevertheless, they are a comfortable tenth place in the divisional table.
By contrast, next to bottom club Morecambe’s form is in some ways better. Although they have lost four out of six of their last League Two fixtures, they have won two of the last three, most recently with a battling 2-3 win at fellow relegation candidates Swindon Town last Saturday despite appalling weather conditions in Wiltshire.
Morecambe Manager Derek Adams left Lancashire for Bradford at the end of his successful campaign to get Morecambe promoted to League One three years ago. As has been the case with several other men who tried to return what was once a Premiership club to the Big Time, Derek’s tenure didn’t last long. Ex-Wales boss Mark `Sparky’ Hughes took over from him when he was sacked – and he has suffered the same fate subsequently. This is what the King of Morecambe had to say about his former charges prior to the game:
“It’s the FA Cup. It’s the biggest tournament in club football. It’s something we want to do really well in. We obviously know the way (Bradford) play. They have slightly changed since the last time we played them. They’ve got Andy Cook up-front who I signed on a permanent basis when I was there. He’s doing really well for them. So we’ll have to look at him and look after him on the day – but they’ve got some really talented players. It’s always nice to play against your former club. I had my views and I was honest with my views and many people were supportive of my views because they were factual. When you give factual statements, people have got to accept it and I think the majority of the Bradford City supporters understand where I was coming from. The unfortunate thing is – as a Bradford City Manager – you don’t get a lot of time and you need to win football matches on a regular basis. I was unfortunate because we drew too many matches at home. Supporters want honesty. Sometimes, when you give too honest an answer and you actually make the correct point – there is a problem. The problem is that someone has to have a go back. Unfortunately, I was right about the situation at Bradford City. They’re a fantastic football club but there’s many things that they have to change to become a better outfit – and they all know that.”
For the visitors, current Manager Graham Alexander was asked, firstly, if the £75,000 available to the winner of today’s FA Cup tie would be spent on acquiring new players. He replied:
“I don’t do that. What we need for the team (is) my prerogative and responsibility: to say how we play and what we need to be successful. The budget and financial aspects are not my responsibility. I’m not in charge of any fees we have to pay or what contracts we give to players. I have a contribution as an experienced manager and football operator, but it’s not down to me to push the button on those things. I trust the people that I work for have the same ambitions as me and that’s to create a winning team, a successful squad and try and win this season. I don’t really need to ask those questions, to be honest. You hear me say regularly there are no negatives to winning. The financial aspect is secondary to me. The winning alone is the main drive for me and my players. Obviously, football clubs being businesses and having to operate, you can get prize money and it can go into the pot to help you strengthen the squad. That’s an added bonus to winning those games of football. But it’s not something we’ll talk about in the team meeting or bring up in the changing room.”
As far as today’s actual match is concerned, he continued:
“Everyone can get excited in cup competitions looking ahead, but you have to focus on winning the game in front of you. I do not want to go overboard on the significance of a game even for some of the biggest that we play. I try to remain focused on what we have to do in order to win – not on the bigger picture. We must remain grounded, focus on the team and focus on getting the win. Everyone is aware of what the FA Cup could bring. But this week, we are preparing to play Morecambe and deciding the best way to overcome this challenge.”
The weather in north Lancashire has been dull, wet and windy for the last few days. Today was no exception except for the rain and the players entered the arena under leaden skies with a strong wind blowing from the choppy grey sea only a short distance away.
King Derek shook up his squad for this game with Jordan Slew and Hallam Hope starting and Yann Songo’o on from the beginning as Skipper to lead by example against his last employers. There was no place for Callum Jones – for whatever reason – even on the bench. Playing conventional Centre Forward, Hallam was largely ineffectual, repeatedly allowing bigger, more determined defenders to beat him in the air and frequently failing to control the ball when it fell to him along the ground. But the quality of play from both sides during the first half was pretty poor. The match was played in front of a crowd which rarely became animated by the fare, which was largely played in the Bradford half but lacked many moments of real excitement. The Bantams had the first decent chance of the game when Olly Sanderson found Bobby Pointon inside the box. He took a shot but Harry Burgoyne in the home goal was equal to it, palming the ball behind for a corner. The best chance of the first period occurred after 27 minutes when impressive Harvey Macadam’s shot from the left of centre beat visiting goalkeeper Sam Walker all ends up only to bounce back into play after smashing against his left-hand post. Andy Cook – who was lumbering throughout and rarely looked like threatening the Shrimps’ goal – had a perfect opportunity to score for City in the thirty-fifth minute. Unmarked and clear, he met Jay Benn’s perfect cross from the Bradford right but headed it virtually straight at Burgoyne, who did well to grasp the ball and hold onto it virtually on the goal line. Four minutes later, Benn had a really good chance as he got away from the Morecambe defence on the City right but his resulting wild shot lacked any composure and was way off target. Right at the death, Cook played-in Sanderson with a clever pass but the Shrimps’ goalkeeper was again equal to it as the City striker basically lobbed the ball weakly into his arms instead of over his head.
So the two teams trailed back to the Dressing rooms with the hosts having enjoyed most of the possession but with the best chances nearly all falling to the visitors.
Morecambe upped the pace right from the start of the second half. After ten minutes, Birthday Boy Ben Tollitt – who was noticeably far more committed and combative than usual this afternoon – got away from his marker and took a shot which Walker did well to keep out of the net. Two minutes later, Derek shook-up the pack and sent on Marcus Dackers to replace the largely ineffectual Hope. He had an immediate impact, posing all sorts of problems to the big City defenders which they had not experienced up to that point. He was set-up by Tollitt just after he appeared for a shot on goal which Walker again did well to stop. Once more, though, Bradford had the first really cast-iron chance of the half to take the lead after an hour. Pointon got away from the defenders in the red shirts and had a clear run on goal but Harry was equal to his effort once more. Macadam walloped a long-range shot well over the bar at the other end of the field two minutes later. But the visitors really should have taken the lead with sixty-four minutes on the clock. Pointon took advantage of a good position to hit a tremendous low shot past Burgoyne only for official Man of the Match Tom White to miraculously boot the ball off the line in front of the massed ranks of Bantams supporters. During the sixty-eighth minute, Dackers did well to control the ball in the area, spin and hit a shot which went just wide of the goalkeeper’s left-hand post with him rooted to the spot. Two minutes later, Jordan Slew took a shot which was again well saved by Walker in the away goal. But – with the game seemingly heading towards a scoreless draw – everything changed in the seventy-sixth minute. Big, rough City Central Defender Neill Byrne had spent much of the half man-handling both Dackers and Slew; constantly pulling their shirts or just holding onto them. This time, Slewy was his target and – not seemingly content with having pulled him in all directions, he sent the Morecambe forward sprawling over the touch line on the Bradford right close to the half-way line with a crude push that could have seen him go head-first into the advertising hoardings. Jordan didn’t react well to this but Referee Seb Stockbridge’s attention was seemingly entirely focused on the big Irish defender. He sent him off with a straight red card – the first time I remember an opposition player being dismissed at the Maz since a Barrow defender saw red during the Covid era several years ago.
As the visitors noticeably started playing for time and the hope of a penalty shoot-out, Morecambe redoubled their efforts to win the game. It took them just six minutes to do so. Bradford conceded a foul in the eighty-second minute. The resultant free-kick found its way to Luke Hendrie on their right and he launched a howitzer of a cross towards Jordan Slew in the box. Jordan did brilliantly to dummy to move forwards and then fall backwards away from a defending player to give himself the space to strike a truly sublime volley out of reach of the Bradford stopper to his left. It was a tremendous goal, good enough to win any game.
Two minutes later, Walker pulled off a tremendous, athletic save as he leapt full-length to his left to keep out a shot from Tollitt which was heading for the top corner.
And that was basically that. As the home fans taunted the visiting supports with loud chants of “There’s only one Derek Adams!”, ten-man Bradford won a couple of corners which came to nothing late on in the game. In truth, though, the home goalkeeper had little to do and no shots to save as the Morecambe rearguard dealt well with what little threat the visitors ever managed to muster.
Today, Morecambe did exactly what King Derek has bemoaned them failing to do all season so far: take their chances. Ironically, the same could not be said of his former charges and Graham Alexander – given the notorious impatience of the Bradford Board – must be a worried man this evening. City can now concentrate on the league – with or without him – as Morecambe can look forward to Monday night’s draw against the Big Boys of English soccer.
This is what Morecambe Assistant Manager Danny Grainger made of it all at the end of the game:
“A clean sheet at home. A win in front of our fans. The performance was good. There wasn’t a lot in the game. I thought we probably deserved the victory to be honest. We took our moment when it came along and it was a great finish from Slew. There’s a lot at stake to get into the third round of the FA Cup. Every club wants it. People can play it down, but everyone wants to be in the third round. Being able to sit on Monday night and watch the draw happen, it brings that excitement again.”
As a postscript, it is well worth mentioning that the Shrimps Trust has drawn Morecambe fans’ attention to a truly excellent article published by the website The Ugly Game (Driving the money changers from Football’s Temple) by Martin Calladine. Mr Calladine has a track record second to none as far as investigating dodgy dealings in football in the UK is concerned and has written perhaps the best book ever about corruption in the Beautiful Game, 2022’s “Fit and Proper People”. His latest offering is specifically about the mysterious potential buyers who are known only to the Morecambe Board but not to groups who represent the club’s fans, the Shrimps Trust and the1920 Union, for example. But the secretiveness of their dealings well away from the spotlight of public scrutiny is becoming an increasing irritant to both of these groups and the fan base in general. You can read his article – Meet the new Boss (a very clever and meaningful quote from the Who’s `Won’t get Fooled Again’ – note the title – and particularly as the next line is: `Same as the Old Boss’…) in full here:
For now, though, here is a quite alarming taster of what Martin Calladine has discovered about this latest `secret’ deal:
“The bidder who has spent months attempting to buy Morecambe is Kuljeet Singh Momi, a former business associate of Sarbjot Johal, the 22-year-old entrepreneur whose high-profile bid for the club last year was seemingly unable to pass the EFL’s Owners and Directors Test. Singh Momi and Johal have been co-owners or co-directors of eight companies in the last two years, raising questions about the independence of the new bid.”
In response, the Shrimps Trust announced on November 26th:
“The Trust acknowledges reports on the identity of the interested buyer, and appreciates the work done to bring this to light. We reiterate our concern over the buyer’s ability to pass EFL regulations, and call on Bond Group to move on from this buyer if they cannot do so.”
At the same time, they published a statement by the 1920 Union which reads:
“Excellent article from @uglygame, bringing to light the identity of the individual trying to buy our club and their links to Sarbjot Johal. This new information is incredibly worrying, and we will be releasing a full statement (in due course).”
I will keep you posted of further developments on these pages but I would suggest that fans read a statement by Kuljeet Singh Momi which has appeared on the official Morecambe FC website this evening subsequent to the win against Bradford:
Morecambe: 1 Harry Burgoyne; 2 Luke Hendrie; 3 Adam Lewis; 4 Tom White; 6 Jamie Stott; 11 Jordan Slew; 14 Rhys Williams; 18 Ben Tollitt; 9 Hallam Hope (19 Marcus Dackers 54’); 8 Harvey Macadam (17 Paul Lewis 84’); 24 Yann Songo’o (C).
Subs not used: 21 Alfie Scales; 5 Max Taylor; 12 Kayden Harrack; 20 Charlie Brown; 22 Ross Millen; 23 David Tutonda.
Bradford City: 1 Sam Walker; 2 Bradley Halliday (3 Lewis Richards 86’); 5 Neill Byrne (R); 6 Richard Smallwood (C) (19 Vadaine Oliver 86’); 7 Jamie Walker (16 Alex Pattison 70’); 9 Andy Cook; 20 Paul Huntington; 21 Olly Sanderson (8 Calum Kavanagh 70’); 23 Bobby Pointon (12 Clarke Oduor 70’); 24 Jack Shepherd; 27 Jay Benn (Y).
Subs not used: 13 Colin Doyle; 14 Tyler Smith 15 Aden Baldwin; 30 Corry Evans; 39 Cheick Diabate..
Ref: Seb Stockbridge.
Att: 3,101 (1,342 from Bradford.)
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