Part Time Supporter

Tomorrow will most likely be the one and only football match I attend this season (unless certain job applications submitted at present pan out), when the visiting might of Torquay United come north. At one point it didn't look like I would be able to attend, but my travel arrangements for the holiday weekend have changed; I therefore get to see the only home game in the two weeks I am here after all.

Last Saturday's win at Cheltenham was very welcome; I think the clamour for the head of the manager might have grown loud enough that the board of directors could hear it had we lost last week. If they read the internet (as some of them seemingly do), some of them might have been tempted to press the 'sack' button. As it was, the 5-4 away win was notable for four new summer signings scoring the goals, as Stuart McCall very bravely decided to bench Thorne, Boulding and Brandon and go with youth and energy. The goalscorers came from Birmingham reserves, Macclesfield, Guiseley, Bamber Bridge and Rochdale (technically speaking an own goal, but Ramsden was heavily involved).

It's pleasing to see that these up-and-coming players have been given their chance, after several years of retread veterans here for one last pay day. Such has been the success of Steve Williams (a part-time barber from Bamber) and James Hanson (a Co-Op worker playing for Guiseley) that McCall has felt encouraged enough to this week sign right winger Scott Neilson from Cambridge City after some impressive trial performances. Neilson has scored 36 goals in two seasons on the wing for Ware Town and Cambridge City in the Southern League and has some impressive family lineage; he is the grandson of Spurs winger Cliff Jones who won the double in 1960-61. He had already had trials at both Norwich and Derby this summer; having been gazumped more than once this summer, McCall moved quickly to get his man.

You can't help but wonder if, had we taken this approach two years ago, might we now be higher up the leagues than we are? Peterborough adopted this strategy two seasons ago and are now in the Championship with largely the same team; granted, they had more money to spend than we did, but George Boyd, Craig Mackail-Smith and Aaron McLean went to Peterborough from Stevenage, Dagenham and Grays Athletic respectively. City haven't shopped at that level, but still look to have found some useful players. Dagenham themselves looked for a long stretch last season like they might similarly complete two rapid-fire promotions, and have once again delved into non-league this offseason to strengthen. Doncaster Rovers performed a similar feat a few years ago and are now holding their own in the Championship.

It's good that McCall finally shows signs of learning. I think nothing would please the majority of fans more than to watch a young side - with a couple of old heads - coming together and growing into a side that could stay together for a period of some years. This was, after all, the way things happened in the 1980s. I think the fans would have been far more patient over the last two years than they have been if, they could have seen that the team was a work in progress.

It's just a shame that as the manager looks like he might be starting to get things right on the field, people in power off the field seem to be getting things wrong. The much neglected (throughout the 90s) youth system is now paying its way; the recent sell-on fee for Fabian Delph testament to that. Yet for this success, a couple of recent news items make for depressing reading. The recent ban on the City Gent mascot throwing sweets to the crowd and waving his belly at the fans is a heavy-handed nonsense. Lenny attends games at his own expense, and provides a bit of colour and humour, particularly at away games.

But the real axe I have to grind is the recent decision to eschew radio commentary of home games altogether in favour of the online 'Bantams Player'. Living seven timezones away, it's inevitable that I have to pay my subscription and listen in. Last season, it was a great way to begin the weekend; up at 7.30ish, listen to the buildup, then the game. Derm Tanner of BBC Radio Leeds used to read out most emails from displaced fans (even mine!) around the world who were either listening early in the morning, late at night, or the morning of the day afterwards if you were in New Zealand. It felt like being involved, even if you were thousands of miles away. Now, home games are marked by total silence till 7.50, then a quick run through the teams and the first half. Complete silence follows at half time followed by the second half. There is no summariser, just the guy doing the commentary. It is, in every way possible, so vastly inferior to the product of the previous three seasons. The commentary on away games is not much better.

Now the club apparently value the radio rights to each game at £400. This is a significant increase in the rights according to Radio Leeds; the club counter that it is value for money and they have been in touch with Ken Bates (and his able deputy Smithers) at L***s U****d for informative insights. If that last sentence doesn't send a chill down your spine on a whole number of levels, then there's something wrong with you. The club are effectively saying that they lose £400 in revenue for each home game being on the radio. At current matchday ticket prices, that's the equivalent of twenty supporters not turning up. Of course, it goes without saying that the cost of the internet commentary is (£39.99) more than the cost of matchday admission. What percentage cut the club get I don't know, but I'm sure it's not insignificant. And what of those fans, many of them far older than me, who don't own a computer, much less know how one works? However you dress it up, it's a money making exercise, something I thought two fan-owners would be more sensitive to. This is the sort of thing someone down the M621 might try......

So the club would rather haggle over the equivalent of these twenty fans when there are probably hundreds who can't attend because they are at work and/or otherwise engaged, and thousands more casual listeners. If forty of these fans turn up at the next game because they've heard an exciting game the last time out, the club makes more money! Talk about not being able to see the wood for the trees! Radio commentary is free advertising. Lets see how attendances hold up if the team struggles because the public at large are not engaged with the club this season. I hope some sense prevails and the club and Radio Leeds get back together and come to some sort of agreement. Unfortunately, I suspect the club are (having heard two interviews on the opening day of the season from chairman and chief operating office) going to dig their heels in over this. More fool them.