The League two season is finally back and it is looking like it is going to be an interesting one for us fans. There has been plenty of movement this off season with some teams really improving whilst others have lost some key players and have maybe surprised fans with who they have brought in as replacements. I am hoping we are in for a season where it really goes down to the wire again for who takes the league title and who ends up in the playoffs but at the same time I think this season we could end up with a real fight for avoiding relegation too that could even possibly go to the final game of the season for the final relegation spot. When you look around the league with those who were relegated and promoted at the end of last season I think we could see those teams coming into the league and cause a few shock results but I guess only time will tell. After having a look around the league here is what we think the table could look like at the end of the season...

Stockport County

Bradford City

Northampton Town

Leyton Orient

Salford City

Stevenage 

Tranmere Rovers

Crawley 

Colchester United

Doncaster Rovers

Walsall

Mansfield Town

Swindon Town

Crewe Alexandra

Newport County

Harrogate Town

Gillingham 

AFC Wimbeldon

Rochdale

Carlisle

Sutton United

Hartlepool United

Grimsby Town

Barrow

As we said at the start of the post we think it could be a very close season especially at the top of the league however, on paper newly promoted Stockport have really strengthened their squad ready to take on the new season and honestly they could cause some big upsets in the league and I think it they gel quickly and start the season on the right foot they could end up winning the league. I do wish I could have put Bradford City in the top spot but unfortunately I think they will get beat to this spot but will hopefully be promoted automatically this season, Hughes has brought some quality into the squad and they look way better than past seasons. Let's just hope this season is a good season to be a Bradford fan as after recent seasons we certainly deserve it. As for the remaining automatic promotion spot I really do think Northampton could push for this and again if they have a good start to the season I can see them just beating those around them to that final spot. 

The playoff spots are going to be widely contested with plenty of teams capable of putting in some great performances to gain the chance of being promoted to League 1 but I think at the end of the season we could be looking at Leyton Orient, Salford, Stevenage and Tranmere fighting it out for that final spot with Stevenage being the team to go up. As for at the bottom of the table I just can't shake the feeling that Barrow are going to struggle this season but also I feel like Grimsby and Hartlepool will be battling all season to stay above the drop zone with Grimsby losing out in the closing few games and heading back into the National league. 

Obviously these predictions have been made without a team kicking a ball yet this season so I am really looking forward to seeing how the season actually progresses and there will be a midway check in to see if these predictions are looking likely or way off plus a full round up at the end of the season with how far off the predictions were or if I got anything spot on. All I can say is I am really looking forward to this season as it has the possibility to be a great competitive one all round and fingers crossed it is the start of something good at Bradford City as that has been a long time coming.

Who do you think will finish in the top 3 and bottom 2 of League 2 this season? 

I think the majority of Bradford City fans will look back on the season like we have and just wonder what actually happened? What we thought was going to be a fantastic season didn't go to plan at all and had a few twists and turns before finally showing some promise however, it was a little too late in the end and we ended up finishing 14th in League 2, way off the mark of where most fans thought we would be. 

The pre-season build up made all us fans pretty hopeful for the season ahead with Derek Adams coming out with plenty of promises and interviews saying the sort of thing he had in store for us but we saw just a few months into the season those promises were definitely not going to happen and morale in the squad had dropped massively. It didn't take long for fans to start turning on Adams & owner Rupp after performances were absolutely shocking and nowhere near what those players in that squad were capable of, it just looked like they didn't want to play. Still the club kept Adams around and even with his post match interviews angering fans even more due to his ego and the fact he didn't seem to care about the results he was still there to oversee the January transfer window. 

It is safe to say there were some fantastic loan signings like Jamie Walker and Dion Pereria (who we never even saw play under Adams yet turned out to be a fantastic signing when he did play) and then there were some more questionable ones like Daly who we just didn't get the best out of and Bass who somehow became a solid first choice 'keeper even after a fair few questionable mistakes. I think the biggest shock of the window though was us losing our captain Canavan right at the end of the window leaving us short of experience in the centre back position, this was clearly due to something in the background due to how it shocked almost everyone. 

Finally though not long after the end of the transfer window the club finally got rid of Adams with his ego seeming to get the better of him and we had a brief spell of Trueman being back in charge stepping up from the assistant role. What makes the Adams sacking even better is how he said 'you will never find a better manager than me' .... well step aside Adams as us Bradford City fans had a massive shock when the club announced the new managed to be Mark Hughes, no one expected it. In fact it was that much of a shock I honestly believed it was the parody account that had announced it not the actual Bradford City one and honestly I still can't get my head around that it is Hughes in charge now and who knows maybe we might get out of League 2 sooner rather than later with him in charge.

The best part about the Hughes appointment for me though was seeing those players who looked awful under Adams finally start looking like footballers again, they started to show up and actually play some football. They were moving the ball around and actually trying to score and creating some great chances whilst they were at it. At times with how they were moving the ball around it didn't feel like we were watching a League two team it looked much better quality and gave us hope for what the future holds at the club. even players who were missing for most of Adams reign seemed to slip back into the squad and make an impact. We saw Peraira magically recover from an injury that kept him from playing under Adams and he soon became a fan favourite after putting in some great performances. Even Gareth Evans returned to the squad after a long time on the sidelines and showed us what he was capable of  it is just a shame we have now released him as I think he could have done well under Hughes next season. 

Even though the players were starting to perform much better unfortunately results just weren't falling in their favour and we still weren't picking up those points that could have helped us climb the table a fair bit towards the end of the season but at the end of the day a 14th place finish is way better than we expected around the festive period.  

The team started to look so much better and honestly it has set the standard pretty high for us fans for the new season but I think we could definitely be in for a treat as the Hughes rebuild is well underway with us making some pretty good signings early on in the transfer window rather than leaving everything to the last minute plus we are keeping hold of some key players from last season. With a nice mix of new and old I think the season could go pretty well if the players settle into the Hughes way of playing early on and I think with more to be done in the transfer window we could see the club go from strength to strength in some positions where quality has been lacking lately. 

At the end of the day though last season didn't go to plan but it was nice to be back in Valley Parade watching the team we love with fellow fans rather than having to sit and watch it on a laptop screen through ifollow. I don't want to get my hopes up too high going into the new season as we saw how that played out last time but there is a real sense of excitement in the air at the moment so let's hope next season is so much better.

What did you think to Bradford City's 2021/22 campaign?

Photo Credit : Bradford City 

It has definitely been a rough time to be a Bradford City fan, things just haven't been going to plan the past few years but have we finally found the cure to those past few seasons with the appointment of new Manager Mark Hughes? 

The is no denying that this season so far has been absolutely terrible (but more on that another day as that is a whole post itself) with results just not going our way and terrible performances on the pitch. It is safe to say the majority of us fans went into the season with high hopes thanks to promises from the club and the then new manager Derek Adams, with his track record it was hard not to be hopefully of pushing for promotion. But this didn't go to plan and it was safe to say everyone was getting frustrated. 

With the manager & team we had there is no doubt that we should have been getting much better results but something just wasn't clicking and performances were boring and painful to watch, you just knew walking into the ground you weren't going to be seeing the best from the players and I really do believe this is due to tactics and falling outs more than anything else. The tactics just seemed all wrong how you can play with 1 man up front and play the long ball every time baffles me, you need 2 upfront in this league and if you are playing the long ball you need 1 man to flick the ball onto another striker not just 1 man doing all the work for 90 minutes. We have had our fair share of injuries too which hasn't helped but we have a bench full of players that are more than capable of stepping up and putting in a good performance if they wanted to and if they were given the opportunity to. 

I wasn't a fan of Adams as our manager if I am honest, the football her orchestrated wasn't fun to watch and he didn't seem to want to change, his ego was a bit too big for my liking too. He constantly played it off as it was fans at fault rather than himself and seemed to keep bigging himself up as a manager when performances told a different story. His comment about us not finding a better manager tipped me over the edge and I wasn't bothered if he left the club. I do find it funny though as that was one of his final comments then along comes new manager Mark Hughes... 

With all the names being thrown around on who could possibly fill Adams shoes I honestly thought we would end up with Steve Evans or Richie Wellens especially with them being the most frequently spoken about names. I really didn't see Mark Hughes becoming our next manager, in fact when it was announced I was so shocked I thought it was a parody account that had tweeted it. When it finally did start to sink in though it got me thinking about what could be to come for the remainder of the season and next season. 

Mark Hughes is one of those managers who has been around for a while now and has managed at some great clubs with some big names playing at the clubs at the time, I have actually enjoyed watching the teams he has managed so lets hope that doesn't change with him now being in charge at City. With Hughes being used to managing at higher levels it is going to be interesting to see how he does with us in League 2 with standards and tactics being totally different to top leagues, I am sure given time though he will settle in nicely and find out the strengths of the team and how we can make it work in the league. He has notably had a few years away from the game too but I can't see that being too much of an issue with him and fingers crossed it brings him in with a clear view of what he wants to achieve. 

All that I can seem to think about though is the connections he possibly has from previous appointments and just his general time in the game to date, not only that his name should also bring the club to some great players attention and should help us build a great squad for the future. Granted there is not much he can do this season unless he brings in some free agents whilst that is still an available but I am more looking forward to the summer transfer period when fingers crossed we should be able to build up a strong squad and really look to push ourselves up the leagues in the future. Let's just hope we are right and his name does help bring in some great players as it is definitely needed in most positions on the pitch at the moment.

The announcement definitely seemed to help win back some fans and give them a little bit of a sense of hope after how the season has gone so far but I think most fans are going to have the same attitude of not getting their hopes up too high for the remainder of the season thanks to how the previous appointment turned out but I do believe the general sense is that we could actually be onto something good here and if given the support from the board I really hope this turns into a long term appointment and we could end up going back to the days of Phil Parkinson being in charge where fans really looked forward to game days and the stadium was full of fans chanting unlike it has been the past few months. 

I definitely aren't going to set my hopes too high with this appointment and I think it is going to take time to see drastic changes which we need but fingers crosses Hughes settles well at the club and gets plenty of backing from not only the board but the fans too, I know we have been having a bad season so far but miracles don't happen over night. We need to give Hughes time and a good chance to build his team, if results don't go our way straight away we don't need to be giving him abuse straight away because remember he inherited this team, he needs to have a chance to find out what works and to bring in the players he can work with the best. 

Fingers crossed we start to see the results change and start to go our way and lets hope the players start playing to the best of their ability now too and give Mark Hughes a reason to pick them week in week out. Hopefully we can start picking up points rather than dropping them. 

What do you think to Mark Hughes becoming Bradford City's new manager?

Well it is here we have finally seen the Bradford City 3rd kit and it certainly hasn't disappointed me. I had heard rumours that the shirt was going to be blue but I didn't expect it to look as good as it does. I have loved the previous blue shirts we have had especially the Avec ones so I knew we were going to get something that looked good but does it live up to my expectations? 

It has been a while since I have done one of these In Conversation posts and what better way to bring them back than with Bradford City Women's very own Chris Hames. Since Chris took charge of the women's team we have definitely seen an improvement both on and off the pitch however, the pandemic ultimately put a hold on that progress but as we enter the new season which we are hoping to complete this time around we are also going in as being part of the Bradford City Community Foundation and Bingley Bantams Ian & Keith Taylor taking charge of the club on a day to day basis. This move is bound to help bring in supporters and bring the women's club more inline with the men's and junior teams which has been needed for a long time really so the women's team were part of he club more than just having the same name and kits. So here is how our chat with Chris about the upcoming season, changes and pandemic delays went... 

EOTA : Whilst we haven’t seen much on the pitch due to covid we have seen plenty of movement off the pitch with Ian & Keith Taylor joining the club and us becoming part of community foundation how do you think that’s going to benefit us?

Chris : Them joining the club has been a breath of fresh air. It means a lot to us that we are part of the institution that is Bradford City - and the support they have given has been superb so far. Qas has taken over as our GM, which will only drive this club on with what he gives for the club and his ambition, as well as allowing us to rejoin and get closer to the Junior teams again - and we can all see the quality of player coming through at all ages there.

EOTA :  With the last two seasons being cancelled we haven’t seen your full potential as manager yet but results started to change for the better. Are you confident we can keep this up?

Chris : This has never been about me. The group hasn't changed dramatically since the one that was struggling when I took over, all they needed was some confidence, some direction and then we have had a few excellent people join the group too. We've reached a point where there is a buzz about the place, where being good people is the first and last condition to being a part of the club, and that has to power to take us very far.

EOTA : With two new additions to the league are you looking forward to finding out what those teams are all about after there being no movement between leagues due to the cancelled seasons?

Chris : Yes it'll be nice to have some new teams to play, and some new challenges - though there are still a number of teams in this division I haven't faced over the last two years, with all the lockdowns and postponements, so the whole season should feel like a new challenge as it is. There will be challenges to these additions. FC United have come up having had years of dominating the league above, and I am very familiar with their manager and players, from some of my previous roles. Alnwick proves a different challenge, one we don't know much about yet, but I'm sure they will come flying into this league - though we may need to charter a flight to just get us up there for a 2pm KO!

EOTA :  What are your main aims for this season? Is it all about promotion or is it mainly finding your rhythm again after all the stop start of the past few seasons? 

Chris : I am always under the belief that we must all 'aim for the moon...' so lets see

EOTA :  Covid has been a big player since March 2020 and with the fact it isn’t going away do you think we are going to suffer from further disruption.

Chris : Yes, unfortunately. It is going to be a tough job for the league to make sure that no one is unfairly punished for Covid reasons, but also to ensure that teams don't use it to their advantage, like we saw one or two try to do last term. I think we just have to be flexible, and adapt to the environment at each time, though I do hope this season can be completed.

EOTA :  We are seeing the club come closer to the men's team and after the merge with the foundation we are seeing a lot more promotion across social media, do you think that promotion is going to bring in more fans to games?

Chris : Bradford City is a huge club. As an outsider I probably didn't realise how big a club it was until I came; but the support is special, in spite of there not always being a lot to cheer about over the last few years. I want the people of Bradford, the fans of City to embrace us as a part of their club, as a part of the family and come out in numbers. I would love for 1% of the men's match going crowd to come and follow us week in week out too.

EOTA : Have you found it easier or harder to recruit new players / keep hold of players with all that has gone on or do you think the addition of the foundation has helped bring in new faces? 

So there we have it that was our in conversation with Chris Hames, I am hoping to get more pieces from Chris and the team throughout the season to run alongside these little interviews so keep your eyes on the blog for them as I already have a few more to post very soon but I thought we best start with Chris to see what he thinks about the season ahead. Throughout this morning there will be a lot more Bradford City content but if you want to see interviews with anyone specific please do let me know as they are really fun to do and give us all a bit more of an insight into the teams.  Fingers crossed Chris can get the team playing as they should be this season and Covid doesn't cause any more disruption. 

It is safe to say to it is going to be strange for us Bradford fans as our usual home colours of claret and amber are going to be our away colours for the season. It is a change I am definitely happy to have though as our home shirt looks great and the retro style of the home shirt is worth the change. I didn't think we would be able to top our home shirt but Avec and City have managed to pull off yet another fantastic design. So just like with the home shirt let's have a closer look at the away shirt...

This claret and amber shirt could have easily been our home shirt this time around but it is a nice change to see it as an away shirt, switching things up from time to time has never hurt anyone right? I love how the shirt is basically in two block colours giving it that half and half effect with the thinner claret stripe also merging on to the yellow side. We also have the subtle vertical stripes going down throughout of the shirt without standing out too much so it just has that little bit of extra detail. Nothing looks out of place on the shirt either as it just flows so well with the sponsor, Avec logo and club crest sitting nicely on the shirt. I will be honest I wasn't to sure about the random claret stripe in the yellow side but after seeing it a whole lot more I do quite like it. I also really like how both sleeves are kept claret instead of having one claret and one amber, I think this just works better and I love the claret being the more prominent colour. 

On the back the design from the front is carried over instead of it being one solid colourand I think it looks great although it is going to be interesting to see how it looks with the players names and numbers printed on it, fingers crossed you can see it clearly. We have the big chunk of claret at the top where the only back details are situated and they stand out well. We have the Mitton Group sponsorship taking up most of this space but it doesn't look out of place at all. We then have the black ribbon as always to remember those who died in the fire and I love how this is situated right at the top of the shirt as you really do notice it and it just feels like a fitting tribute. 

I absolutely love the side on view where you can see that the back colours are the opposite way around to the front, it just gives a bit of a half and half effect from side on and it flows really well due to the sleeves and top of the back being claret. I just think it looks really well put together and like quite a bit of thought was put into this design overall. The shirt also features the Avec logo taping on each sleeve just like with the home shirt and I am really growing to love this addition from Avec as over the past few seasons they have looked great on the sleeves. 

I have a funny feeling that I will own this sooner rather than later and a trip to the club shop is definitely needed but maybe I will wait until we see the third shirt so I can get everything in one go instead of making too many trips. If like me you want to pick up the away shirt it is going to cost you... 

It is safe to say the goalkeeper away shirt is quite a bit different to the home one as it is really bold and is going to standout on the pitch which is opposite to the black home one. The bold pink colour (it may look totally different in person) definitely catches your eye and all the extras such as badges and logos look perfectly in place with the white as they also catch your eye. I wasn't too sure about the colour at first as I though our goalkeepers were just going to look like walking talking highlighters but it is definitely growing on me. Other than the pink and white on the front of the shirt you just have a little bit of black which is subtly around the neck of the shirt and just flows well with the other details around the rest of the shirts. I just really like how nice and simple the shirt looks.  

Just like with the home goalkeeper shirt this away one also features that subtle chevron style design that creates a little bit of a pattern on the shirt instead of it being totally plain and honestly I think without this little bit of a design it would look a little too plain and boring for me. I also like how they carried that same design over to the away shirt and just changed the colour instead of creating a totally new shirt design. Sometimes keeping it simple is the best way to go and it has definitely worked well for both the goalkeeper kits this season. You also have the same Mitton Group sponsor on the back of this shirt in white and the black ribbon for the tribute to those who lost their lives, so it is still nice and simple on the back with the players name and number looking like it is going to take up the main focus as it should do.