Really? Got a link?

https://twitter.com/Omaricaro/status/717251401009729536

https://twitter.com/Omaricaro/status/717251401009729536

Lowes post match comments on Radio Leeds repeatedly mentioned psychology, which surprised me as I was expecting his usual grunts. Bradford should be as fit & strong as any team in the Championship. So they are either not skillful enough or too mentally weak/disenchanted. I can't see Lowes rectifying any of those.

Just found it...cheers.

"Imagine being asked a question to which you give an answer, to then see what you said being spun in all kind of ways #GreatJournalism"


Questions for Ross - is he stirring things on purpose? Did Omari really get quoted out of context. Why the eff wasn't a senior member of staff taking responsibility for a statement rather than a player?

Or did he actually say those things and then realise how utterly bloody stupid it sounds.

I suspect we'll never really know which is true. Caro will say he's misquoted, Ross will say he isn't.

Nor can I.

It seems to me that the team have a few issues. The lack of “end product” from our halfbacks has brought about a situation where players are now lost for ideas and are getting fed up with doing a load of work for no reward. I’ve played in sides that has no playmakers and it’s a demoralising experience. You can get in good positions but never make it pay off. In the end you start to question what the point of it all is. My experience is limited to very poor amateur and student rugby so I’d hope professionals have a better attitude but maybe this is what’s going on? Look at Gaskell – he looks utterly peed off. He got a slight knock on Sunday and then disappeared for long parts of the game. Someone needs to get a grip of this team and get players thinking and playing more positively and we need another playmaker pronto.

As for the mental weakness – Lowes alluded to that in his interview but he seems lost for ideas on how to rectify it.

Do try to keep up.


To be clear, I'm not in the slightest "hostile" to you, I simply replied in kind to your POINTS. You shouldn't take it personally. I'm sure you love your mum etc.







This is the truest summary ever of why we still get 4000 people turning up (and healthy numbers away). That's me exactly. But, while hard core, it isn't a solid 4000. One by one, stalwarts are having enough, and letting go. I'm worried it will soon become a trickle, then a flood. People are definitely reaching the end of their tether with all this.

And, the hardcore are your bread, but the extras that pay on the gate are your butter, maybe a bit of jam in popular fixtures. Not one single person who paid twenty quid to watch that dross will be back at the next home game.

I do think though that the away fans will turn up as normal, they are the most solid of the hardcore, but they aren't anywhere near enough to keep the club afloat.

Plus, after such a debacle you'd have been forgiven for thinking that the club would come up with something, anything, this week to try to repair the severe damage that performance did, but yet we have no word. Nothing from Green. Not a word from Ferres. No action on the scrum half front. Nothing.

Second only to signing a scrum half, that is exactly what they need to do sooner rather than later.

Even a "we've signed Mitch Clark to a longer contract" would put some positivity back in. Instead we're left with a single line in an article with Omari Caro (who either has his head in the clouds, or has been misrepresented) that mentioned Ferres has upped his efforts to search for a 7. Does that mean he wasn't really looking that hard before then?

I fully expect rather than some actual positive news, we'll get a press release later this week from Ferres/Green/RHP saying that the fans need to do their bit and turn up at Dewsbury.

I'd leave it. He is a thick imbecile with nothing to offer. Just a poor troll.

Interesting and very similar debate happening on the Southstander:



I expect it's a similar situation at Bradford.

Agree - think we can all relate to that at work too.

Sometimes as a department or business you need to step back and keep sight of the strategy vision you set yourselves at the start of the year / month / week / whatever time period you choose.

It's easy to fall into fire fight mode whatever line of business you are in.

Step back and review the pre season strategy and goals

I also agree. Team sport is a unique kind of employment in that the interaction between the team and the coach is the one single factor that can completely, and totally illogically, transform the performance of a sports team.

It's also a rather fragile thing, and hard to say what goes wrong, but when itdoes, everything can change in an instant. Take Mourinho at Chelsea - he is still in demand as one of the best if not THE best, yet Chelsea's sudden fall from grace was a spectacular as it was unexpected.

We see this throughout the decades, in so many teams, and the reason is that given a high level of fitness (tick) and given players with a reasonable degree of ability (tick) one coach can make them magnificent, another can get them relegated.

Do any of you oldies believe that Nottingham Forest could ever have got anywhere near being Champions of Europe, without Brian Clough (and Taylor)?

Much nearer home, we had our very own Peter Fox, who could sign beat-ups, has-beens and ageing cripples, and turn the mix into a title-winning team.

That's why Lowes has to go. He does have a good mix of talent - however barking the signings policy may be - and very clearly the sum of the parts is much, much worse under his direction, we can't change all the players so we need a coach who can wave the (literal) magic wand.

I personally think that 80% of the issue - if not more - is in the players' heads. The team believed in Cloughie, and he made them feel they could do anything. Ditto Foxy. Whatever our lads say, their performances show that they have no self-belief and probably all have a low self-esteem and an inferiority complex. That's certainly what it looks like.

Bring back Foxy, you might get a game.

I remember my playing days and was fortunate to have 1 coach through my junior days right up to U18's

He knew how to get the best of of each and every one of us and by the U18's we went through the season with only 1 defeat.

We'd have run through walls out of respect and admiration for him

The guy that took over was the opposite; he played us out of position, we didn't believe in him etc etc.

Guess what happened to the very same team.....

You can apply it to your own working life....

Managers you've been inspired by and ones that have demotivated you.

I know I've tried to take all the good bits and learn from the awful ones what not to do to mold myself today

Absolutely. People can pretend all they like, but if you get on with your boss and respect him/her, you'll go that extra mile and work harder for him/her. If you don't like them, you won't give two turds.

What's he doing now? Can you have a word with him to contact Green please.

I'd fancy him doing a job!!

Definitely rings a bell with me. I’ve had the pleasure of the company of all the Bulls/Northern coaches since Fox. They all come over as decent men but for me it’s no coincidence that the successful ones (Fox, Smith, Elliott, Noble) were great communicators and had that extra something than made you feel inspired. Fox was the best for that. If I’d been a player I’d have run through brick walls for him.

The last fella we had in charge that came anywhere near was Mick Potter. Unfortunately McNamara, Cummins and Lowes don’t have that same aura.

I heard an interview with Chris Chester last week who said he'd tried to create an environment at Wakefield where the players looked forward to turning up to training. I think the word he used was "fun" which sounds a bit primary school but it's clear that the new techniques are working wonders. It's amazing how a change in coach can energise and completely alter attitudes and application which leads directly to results on the field.

In his book "The Magic of Teamwork," (which inspired thinking in the early days of the Bulls) Vice President of Orlando Magic Pat Williams says the six qualities that effective leaders must possess are Vision, Communication Skills, People Skills, Character, Competence and Boldness. How many of those apply to Lowes?

I think the situation at Leeds is more obviously mental. They have a team on paper, even with injuries, that should be comfortably top 4. What Sinfield & Peacock had above all else was mental strength; they never gave in. They seem now to have a number of mentally suspect players. The games I have seen JJB has been their best player, which is interesting as he is cut from similar cloth to the other 2. With Bradford, I am not sure who they have who the players can turn to as a leader (as I make a rule not watch teams outside the top 7 of SL) when the going gets tough. I am sure Foxy would have an old warhorse to lead the youngsters around & who opposition teams wouldn't mess with. Lowes certainly doesn't seem to inspire players to go that extra mile.

How many of us have just mentally ticked those of for the good managers we've had?

Very accurate

Wouldn't you argue Purtel is this character for us?

With Sidlow injured we've lost our pack leader. In the sub standard performances early on this season he was the one that broke the line and got us on the front foot. Without him the pack is rudderless. In the backs Gaskell is well out of form and Mullaney has gone leaving us with nobody who can create much.

I think Purtell is a solid character but I think he's probably captain purely down to his longevity with the club and the fact that he's played at a high level in the past.