Marked for Peter Mitchell
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad8 May 2034
A knee injury of the worst kind for Khanyisa Mayo
134 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Bradford City lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad8 May 2034
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 20 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad8 May 2034
An individual honour is a strange thing in a team game, and the best of them are never argued with. He has had the sort of year that ends with his name being read out, and Bradford City have had the benefit of it.
Market8 May 2034
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad8 May 2034
Khanyisa Mayo was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Market8 May 2034
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Bradford City, another week without a signature from Emanuele Scipioni.
Boardroom8 May 2034
Wages eat 98% of everything Bradford City earn
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
The dugout8 May 2034
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Marc Ploner, and the manager let it.
The dugout8 May 2034
George Merloi knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Bradford City, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Squad1 May 2034
37 goals and a season average of 7.69. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Player ratings1 May 2034
Two goals and a mark of 9.66 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Match1 May 2034
Full time on the season at Bradford City
Position 1 on 108 points. Every season is a story and this is the last line of it, and now the club has three months to decide what the next one is about.
Squad1 May 2034
27 days out for Peter Mitchell after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Bradford City will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Player ratings1 May 2034
Ibou Touray, 39, rolls back the years — 8.07
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.07 at 39, and nobody on the pitch was better.
The dugout1 May 2034
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Market1 May 2034
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Bradford City, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market1 May 2034
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Bradford City is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Match29 Apr 2034
Nobody wants to play Bradford City right now
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad24 Apr 2034
A season average of 7.61 with 24 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Match24 Apr 2034
102 points and nobody above them. The word is not being said around the ground yet, and it is being thought in every seat.
Market24 Apr 2034
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad24 Apr 2034
A fracture rules Peter Mitchell out for 34 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Bradford City will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market24 Apr 2034
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Bradford City is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad24 Apr 2034
3 goals in one game. The first was taken well, the second was taken greedily, and by the third the crowd were simply waiting for him to get the ball.
Player ratings24 Apr 2034
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.37, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Player ratings24 Apr 2034
Successful dribbles: 29. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Squad24 Apr 2034
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Bradford City know it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match15 Apr 2034
A 2‑5 beating by Newport County was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
Squad17 Apr 2034
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 41 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad17 Apr 2034
21 goals and a season average of 7.54. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Player ratings17 Apr 2034
Age has not caught Khanyisa Mayo yet — 8.15
At 35 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.15 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Player ratings17 Apr 2034
Successful dribbles: 23. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Squad17 Apr 2034
700 games in these colours. Service of that kind gets rarer every season, and the crowd knows it.
Squad17 Apr 2034
Ibou Touray and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Match15 Apr 2034
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 7 goals between Bradford City and Newport County, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
The dugout17 Apr 2034
The manager makes an example of Denilson Mena
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad10 Apr 2034
35 goals and a season average of 7.66. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Match8 Apr 2034
Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 4‑1 against Chesterfield, and it could have been more.
Player ratings10 Apr 2034
A brace, and Kelvin Neijenhuis takes the afternoon — 9.19
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Kelvin Neijenhuis provided it, and the 9.19 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Squad10 Apr 2034
A fracture rules Peter Mitchell out for 48 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Bradford City will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Player ratings10 Apr 2034
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.40, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Squad10 Apr 2034
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Bradford City know it.
Squad10 Apr 2034
Stefano Sensi was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The terraces10 Apr 2034
He is 22 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Player ratings10 Apr 2034
Lucas Tabó was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.23. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad3 Apr 2034
A season average of 7.63 with 33 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Squad3 Apr 2034
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 55 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market3 Apr 2034
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
The dugout3 Apr 2034
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
The dugout3 Apr 2034
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Bradford City may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market3 Apr 2034
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Bradford City is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad3 Apr 2034
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Khanyisa Mayo and Bradford City agree another 2 years.
Squad3 Apr 2034
Gino Caoki and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match27 Mar 2034
93 points and nobody above them. The word is not being said around the ground yet, and it is being thought in every seat.
The dugout27 Mar 2034
Svetoslav Vutsov: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Bradford City have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad27 Mar 2034
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 62 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market27 Mar 2034
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Bradford City is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Market27 Mar 2034
Richard Ellis hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Bradford City can pretend not to have heard.
Squad27 Mar 2034
George Merloi and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad27 Mar 2034
Words at Bradford City training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Khanyisa Mayo is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The dugout27 Mar 2034
The manager makes an example of George Merloi
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Squad27 Mar 2034
8 new faces, and Bradford City are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad20 Mar 2034
A fracture rules Peter Mitchell out for 69 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Bradford City will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match18 Mar 2034
No end in sight to Bradford City's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Bradford City has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad20 Mar 2034
Khanyisa Mayo was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Player ratings20 Mar 2034
Successful dribbles: 22. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad20 Mar 2034
11 goals and a season average of 7.35. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Squad20 Mar 2034
Gino Caoki falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Match18 Mar 2034
0‑1 to Crewe Alexandra, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout20 Mar 2034
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑1, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
The dugout20 Mar 2034
George Merloi knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Bradford City, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad13 Mar 2034
76 days out for Peter Mitchell after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Bradford City will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Player ratings13 Mar 2034
Two goals and a mark of 9.17 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Squad13 Mar 2034
19 goals and a season average of 7.55. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Player ratings13 Mar 2034
Successful dribbles: 28. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Squad13 Mar 2034
George Merloi was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad13 Mar 2034
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Joe Wright was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Looking ahead13 Mar 2034
The fixture the rest of the division is looking forward to more than either of the sides in it. Both know a win changes the season and a defeat does not end it, which is what makes it hard to play.
The dugout13 Mar 2034
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Stefano Sensi, and the manager let it.
Match11 Mar 2034
Level with 94 minutes on the clock, after an afternoon Bradford City had all but put away. Northampton Town will call it a point earned; the home dressing room will call it two given away, and both of them are right.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad6 Mar 2034
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 83 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad6 Mar 2034
Defences have started doubling up on Yusuf Akhamrich
18 goals and a season average of 7.47 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Match4 Mar 2034
The run at home goes on for Bradford City
13 matches unbeaten here. Every visiting manager is asked about it in the week before, which is precisely why it keeps going.
The dugout6 Mar 2034
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Market6 Mar 2034
Rudy Thalmensi has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Bradford City they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Boardroom6 Mar 2034
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Rudy Thalmensi has agreed terms with Salford City for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Squad6 Mar 2034
“The easiest signature of my career.” Ibou Touray and Bradford City agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad6 Mar 2034
He will be fined, he will apologise, and he will play on Saturday. The order of those three tells you everything about what a football club actually values.
The dugout6 Mar 2034
The manager makes an example of Joe Wright
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Squad27 Feb 2034
A season average of 7.69 with 32 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Match25 Feb 2034
11 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Match25 Feb 2034
Tranmere Rovers will want this one forgotten quickly: 5‑1, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Bradford City were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Match27 Feb 2034
91 points and nobody above them. The word is not being said around the ground yet, and it is being thought in every seat.
Squad27 Feb 2034
A fracture rules Peter Mitchell out for 90 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Bradford City will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Player ratings27 Feb 2034
A brace, and Lorenzo De Leo takes the afternoon — 9.19
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Lorenzo De Leo provided it, and the 9.19 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Market27 Feb 2034
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Bradford City is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Player ratings27 Feb 2034
At 35 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 7.98, and nobody on the pitch better.
Match25 Feb 2034
12 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Squad20 Feb 2034
A season average of 7.68 with 31 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Match18 Feb 2034
Nobody wants to play Bradford City right now
10 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Squad20 Feb 2034
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 97 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Player ratings20 Feb 2034
A brace, and Kelvin Neijenhuis takes the afternoon — 9.16
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Kelvin Neijenhuis provided it, and the 9.16 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Match18 Feb 2034
7 straight away victories. Sides that win away are usually sides that can defend and can counter, and the table has begun to reflect what those journeys have earned.
Market20 Feb 2034
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Match18 Feb 2034
11 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Match18 Feb 2034
A 4‑3 win over Burton Albion, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Squad13 Feb 2034
A season average of 7.65 with 29 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Match11 Feb 2034
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Bradford City have 9 straight wins of it.
Match11 Feb 2034
Bromley will want this one forgotten quickly: 4‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Bradford City were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Squad13 Feb 2034
Peter Mitchell breaks a bone — 104 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 104 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market13 Feb 2034
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Bradford City, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings13 Feb 2034
Two goals and a mark of 9.26 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Market13 Feb 2034
The offer from Watford for Svetoslav Vutsov was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Player ratings13 Feb 2034
A brace, and Kelvin Neijenhuis takes the afternoon — 9.01
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Kelvin Neijenhuis provided it, and the 9.01 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Player ratings13 Feb 2034
Age has not caught Ibou Touray yet — 7.99
At 39 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.99 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
In brief
-
Match
Another one collected away from home
-
Player ratings
Up for the corner, and Joe Wright delivers — 7.42
-
Transfer targets
Medical ends the Ethan Brierley deal
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Squad6 Feb 2034
A season average of 7.64 with 27 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Match4 Feb 2034
3‑0, and Lorenzo De Leo took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Bradford City tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.
Squad6 Feb 2034
111 days out for Peter Mitchell after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Bradford City will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Match4 Feb 2034
7 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Squad6 Feb 2034
The match ball belongs to Lorenzo De Leo, whose 3 goals turned a difficult afternoon into a procession.
Player ratings6 Feb 2034
Two goals and a mark of 8.37 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Market6 Feb 2034
Luis Sandoval hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Bradford City can pretend not to have heard.
Transfer targets6 Feb 2034
Bradford City asked and Middlesbrough said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Market6 Feb 2034
Add another name to the list: Watford have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Svetoslav Vutsov. The answer from Bradford City has not changed — yet.