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Rahic and Rupp Need To Bury The Past.

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It is coming out that everything hasn’t been running smoothly behind the scenes and the tension has affected results and in turn forced the hands of Rahic and Rupp. For right or wrong, we needed a change at the helm on match day as not 1 single City fan wanted us to continue for the next 3 months as we are. Question now has to be asked, who will pick the team and tactics on Saturday? Rahic, Rupp, Abbott or Kenny Black?

A change needed to be made, and made a change we did
It simply wasn’t working this season under McCall and whoever is to blame, he needed to go even if a single finger couldn’t be pointed in his direction. In my last job, I worked for the most horrible and incompetent manager I’ve had the misfortune to work for, she let personal troubles come into the way she went about things, just totally inept and never let me just crack on with my work. I took time on sick and left when I got a much better job at the first attempt. In that, I do sympathise with McCall, and like my situation, his manager wasn’t going to leave. I just hope Stuart got a bit of money out of them on his way out of the door. So that leaves us, or should leave us with Kenny Black looking after team affairs. This is not 100% totally bad, Black is not wet behind the ears as he had been manager of Airdrie United for a few years. During Black’s spell, it wasn’t exactly brilliant, but he can at least claim he did win silverware during his stint. Sometimes things just don’t work out, and no matter how bad things appear, teams usually do well initially when a new man comes in or the assistant takes over the reigns initially. With the basement team of the division visiting, Black has a great opportunity to make the team move on from a horrible patch. It is a bit of an exciting time reading some of the names linked to City and sounds like we are competing against Championship clubs for managers. If we miss out or not, it is a far cry from the past decade.

McCall or no McCall, we are still City.
McCall may not have been the root of all the problems to befall City of late, Stuart is gone, but other individuals are still here. The morale is terrible at the moment, and Bury will fancy their chances against a rudderless ship which appears to be sinking faster than Justin Bieber’s popularity amongst the middle aged heterosexual working class male population. Bury may be bottom, but they are unbeaten in 3 winning twice and drawing the other. Black’s loyalty to McCall is unquestionable, but will his loyalty to Rahic/Rupp’s Bradford City also be unwaivering? There is a massive question mark over City this week and Bury are unbeaten under new manager Ryan Lowe. Ex City favourite James Hanson could return to Valley Parade, to date he hasn’t registered a goal in 6 games. Could we experience the curse of the ex?

Head to head and form
28 City wins
26 draws
24 Bury wins

Historically not much between City and the Shakers, and things of late neither team stands out either. Bury won 3-1 at home earlier this season and will fancy their chances of getting a Bantam double. Last season City earned 4 points from their Lancastrian rivals. Last season this fixture ended 1-1 with goals either side of half time, Scott Burgess put the Shakers ahead only for Nicky Law to equalise. The last City win came in Oct 2015, 2-1 with an own goal from Reece Brown minutes after Rory McArdle put City ahead, and then a last minute consolation from Danny Rose. The last time Bury won at Valley Parade in the league was McCall’s final game as manager in his first episode at City, a 0-1 victory in Feb 2010 thanks to Andy Morrell.


City last 6 LLLLLL
City last 6 home LLWLWL
Bury last 6 WDWLLL
Bury last 6 away WLLLLW

City’s form is naff, even at home we have lost 4 of our last 6, so how about our opponents? 2 wins on the road in their last 6 attempts, but unbeaten in their last 3 under new manager Lowe so despite their lowly position, Lowe’s Bury will prove a very stern test for whoever is taking over team affairs. Like City’s last opponents Oldham, Bury have lost quite a few of late, 8 of their last 11 matches, and like last week, this is a fixture both sets of fans will fancy their team winning.

City’s last 6 results
Oldham Athletic (A) 2-1 loss
AFC Wimbledon (H) 0-4 loss
Rotherham United (A) 2-0 loss
Bristol Rovers (A) 3-1 loss
Northampton Town (H) 1-2 loss
Yeovil Town (A) 2-0 loss

Shakers’ last 6 results
AFC Wimbledon (H) 2-1 win
Blackpool (H) 1-1 draw
Oxford United (A) 1-2 win
Charlton Athletic (H) 0-1 loss
Fleetwood Town (H) 2-3 loss
Plymouth Argyle (A) 3-0 loss

Last 6 league encounters between City and Bury
Oct 2017 – Bury 3-1 City
Apr 2017 – Bury 0-2 City
Dec 2016 – City 1-1 Bury
Mar 2016 – Bury 0-0 City
Oct 2015 – City 2-1 Bury
Jan 2011 – City 1-0 Bury

Goals in numbers, last 6 games
For – Bury 7, City 3
Conceded – Bury 10, City 15
Blanks – Bury 2, City 3
Clean sheets – Bury 0, City 0

Goals in numbers City home/Bury away (last 6)
For – City 9, Bury 4
Conceded – Bury 10, City 15
Blanks – City 2, Bury 4
Clean sheets – Bury 0, City 0

Leading scorers
13 Charlie Wyke (City)
8 Jermaine Beckford (Bury)

League placings difference
City – 18 places – Bury

Boz’s match verdict: Home win

5 Fun Tackles
1. Gary Caldwell 25/1 has come out saying he would like to apply for the City manager’s job. Did you know his brother Steven had a loan spell with City back in the 2001/2002 season from Newcastle United. He went on to represent the Bantams in 9 games, all from the start. City finished 15th in the 2nd division that season, 20 points off the play offs and 6 off the relegation spots.

2. Simon Grayson 3/1 also had a loan spell at City that very season with City and like Steven Caldwell started alongside Stuart McCall in a few games. In total, Grayson started 7 games for city, this time his parent club was Blackburn Rovers.

3. Gregg Abbott 16/1 had a spell at Valley parade between 1982 till 1991 making 343 appearances scoring 48 goals. Abbott also shared the field at Valley Parade with Stuart McCall during his time at City.

4. Michael Flynn 25/1 has recently renewed his contract at Newport Co after turning them into promotion hopefuls from Football League drop outs. Flynn signed for City from Darlington in 2009 and left in 2012 for Newport County making 104 appearances scoring 14 goals. Michael Flynn was a Stuart McCall City signing.

5. Benito Carbone 50/1 played alongside Stuart McCall in the Premiership and odds are been given on him being our next manager. Carbone played for City between 2000-2002 and proved a costly acquisition. Benito has 46 games and 12 goals as a City player after signing from Aston Villa before moving onto Como. During his City Spell, Carbone had loan spells at Derby and Middlesbrough.

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