Who should be offered a contract for next season?

[Prufrock]

I'm not ever sure it's that complicated as PP wizardry, think it's just having a run of games in a team that suits you and a manager who trusts you.

[bristol_Wanderer3]

I've said yes to

Wheater (we seemed to have resolved his fitness issues, and he has had a great season. On his way to being a legend here).
Dervite (I think he has good ability, and in a positive environment would be an asset in the Championship)
Taylor (Not a disaster if he doesn't sign. Not what we need as a wing back in the Championship if we go 3-5-2, fine in a back 4).
Spearing (Only on say 10k pw, as opposed to his current 17k pw. I think mid-lower Championship is his level).
Mark Davies (He is likely to be still here recuperating through the summer, so give him a payp deal for the season).
Clayton (Close. I would give him a year on a low pay contract to see if he can make something of his talent)
Madine (Only because it is hard to see us being able to afford decent Champ level strikers. We will struggle if he plays a full season in the Championship)
Morais (Probably won't be this good next year, and we will need good cover, but has earned a deal)
ALF (We can't turn down a goalscorer as we are going to find goals hard to come by next season)

I would also sign Wabara. Good cover for left and right full back/wing back and maybe the right side of a back three. Relatively cheap and has the talent and pedigree.

As for the others, Wilson has proved himself not good enough for the Championship already, and the league has got stronger since then, and will continue to do so, Thorpe hasn't really been up to it at this level as a midfielder, he might become a decent central defender, but I wouldn't offer him a deal. Trotter has talent, but doesn't do the hard yards as a CM and hasn't earned a deal, Moxey needs to move on for the benefit of both parties. Henry might be good cover for Morais in a 3-5-2, so not terrible to offer him a low pay deal, but I would look for better. Walker nowhere near good enough, Buxton too old and fitness issues.

Hopefully we willl sign Ameobi (though hard to see where he fits in if we go 3-5-2), and James Meredith, an attacking left back from Bradford, who is out of contract at the end of the season, and would be a good addition as left wing back, as well as left back. On top of that we MUST somehow sign better attacking players for us not to be struggling next season. However our defence and midfield all belong at that level, which is a luxurious position that few promoted teams from this league find themselves.

[Prufrock]

3 at the back been a means to an end IMO, don't think we'll see it next year. Doesn't suit Beevers, Morais, Taylor or Vela and they're not far off our best players!

[BWFC_Insane]

Andy Taylor is one of if not our best player in terms of the level he is capable of playing at IMO. If we don't sign him or at least try to we'd be absolutely mental.

I ask think we'd be mad trying to play 3 at the back next season other than out of necessity.

[bristol_Wanderer3]

As things look at the moment, if we don't go 3-5-2 next season, how do we accommodate ALF? Also I think 3-5-2 does suit Morais, and Beevers and Vela are fine in that formation. I don't think Morais is as effective as one of the three behind a striker, and deffo not at Championship level. To make a 4-2-3-1 work we would need a new, decent, right back, or maybe a fully fit Wabara, and at least two really talented wide attackers, and a decent centre forward. Ameobi might be one of the wide attackers IF he can be as effective in the Championship as he was in L1 (big, big IF), otherwise these kind of players cost money, which despite promotion we are unlikely to have, or we would need to get very lucky loaning in young talented players from Prem U21 teams.

[officer_dibble]

Go on then who are the 11 people who voted for James Henry??

[LeverEnd]

Go on then who are the 11 people who voted for James Henry??

Fook knows. Wondered the same myself. Exactly the kind of soft arsed underachiever who has let us down do badly in recent years. There's a reason he's dropping down the league ladder.

[officer_dibble]

Less people voted for thorpe and he looked handy enough in the first half of the season team. Injured and off the pace sense. Whilst versatile head says he won't cut it above. Would rather have Spearing or Derik in defensive mid.

Out of the other marginals I also didnt vote for clayton (not shown enough), mark davies (always injured), lawrie wilson (would keep if cover but thats not the point of the vote).

So on my shopping list is a right back and some midfielders!

Madines the interesting one. Crucial to either 352 or 4231 but doesn't score enough. Can we do better?

[Prufrock]

If we can't we're coming straight back down!

And the more I see of Derik the less convinced I become that he might not be shite.

[TANGODANCER]

Relevant question: Will we have Parky as a manager, assuming we go up, and can he work the same magic a level higher? Not a negative view, just wondering what he's thinking right now. If we do go, somebody will probably be head hunting him as a safe bet.

[bristol_Wanderer3]

Relevant question: Will we have Parky as a manager, assuming we go up, and can he work the same magic a level higher? Not a negative view, just wondering what he's thinking right now. If we do go, somebody will probably be head hunting him as a safe bet.

Definitely pertinent questions. His managerial record suggests he is proven at L1 level, but very unproven at 2nd tier level. He lasted six months with Hull before being sacked in 2006, and got relegated with Charlton in 2008. He definitely has something to prove at Championship level. For these reasons, it is hard to believe that he has his eyes on a better opportunity, or many others are head hunting him. PP does seem the kind of person who likes to stay at clubs judging by his career thus far (long term playing career at Bury and Reading, long term management at Bradford). Hopefully KA will offer him and his team better terms and a longer deal. However football is crazy and KA has no experience of these situations so anything could happen..

[LeverEnd]

Relevant question: Will we have Parky as a manager, assuming we go up, and can he work the same magic a level higher? Not a negative view, just wondering what he's thinking right now. If we do go, somebody will probably be head hunting him as a safe bet.

Was discussing this the other day. Why was he never poached earlier during his success at Bradford? I suspect it's to do with the one dimensional nature of the football his teams play.
So yes, he does have something to prove at Championship level. I think he is organised and efficient enough to keep us up which will be great first season, but then only time will tell if he has the attacking coaching nous to push on.
Clearly he'll need access to better players too, but we don't know what the finances will be like.
As long as we are skint he's absolutely the best we could get, and has done a fantastic job this season.

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

I'd be very surprised if Parky left, especially assuming we go up. He's not a fly-by-night guy, he hasn't proved himself at second-tier level yet, we'll be very keen indeed to keep him and he might be excited to see what he can do here, especially if we come out of embargo.

Even if we go up we won’t be splashing lots of money – those days is gone – and Parky will have an eye for an available bargain. With this in mind, I had a look at which Bradford players are out of contract this summer (according to Transfermarkt).

The obvious contender is Stephen Darby, the Scouse right-back whom Parky has admitted he tried to get in January in a swap for Proctor. The 28-year-old has been at Bradford for five years: Parky signed him and later made him captain, but he’s one of many to fall out of favour under McCuardiola – he’s only started one game since the first week of January (he’s not injured, he’s usually been on the bench but has seen precisely one minute of action therefrom). Would be interesting to see how he might link up with Morais down the right. He’d also have lots of familiar faces in squad: not just from Bradford, but he’d know Spearing (if he stays) from Liverpool.

He’s lost his place to Tony McMahon, another right-back out of contract, also signed by Parky – but he’s 31, so I’d expect Darby is a higher priority.

Rory McArdle, a right-footed centre-back who started 37 of Bradford’s 48 league games (inc play-offs) in Parky’s last season; he missed the start of this campaign but has started the last 14 league games. Earlier in the decade he won seven Northern Ireland caps despite being born in Sheffield – not far from Beevers – and played for Rochdale at the same time as ALF and (briefly) Madine.

He’s presumably a more realistic centre-back signing than Matt Kilgallon, McCall’s old Sheffield United mate whom he gave a one-year contract last summer: Kilgallon is now 33 and a third, like an old-fashioned long-player. #oneforthesnapchatgeneration

Then there’s Matt Marshall, the winger who made McCall discard Morais. Manchester-born of Jamaican heritage, Marshall has been one of McCall’s mainstays this season, splitting his time almost equally between the two wings. He was banned for two-years after a 2011 drug test revealed traces of methylexanamine, but worked his way back via Coventry and Port Vale until Parky took him to Bradford in summer 2015 - "He can play on the right hand side or the left, and he is comfortable with both feet. He also has that extra power and pace that we have been looking to add to the squad. His ability to go past a player in a one-on-one situation gives us a really good attacking option." But after starting six of the first nine games, he only started four of the next 28 and dropped out of the squad together for the last six weeks of the season. McCall has played him a lot more regularly (34 starts and counting) so he may be more inclined to stay, if indeed Parky is bothered (Marshall has never played above the third tier and turns 30 in May).

The other player sliding out of contract is a reserve goalkeeper McCall signed. But it might be interesting to see if Parkinson asks West Ham about borrowing Josh Cullen; he took the young midfielder (21 tomorrow) to Bradford for the last three months of 2015/16 and considered hiring him again here for this campaign, but the lad went back to Valley Parade instead on a June-to-Jan loan which was duly extended to the full season. He’s been a success, making 36 starts and if Parky could offer him a spell in a higher division it might suit player, manager, parent club (he’s contracted until 2019 but at 21 needs to start proving himself) and loaning team (he’s a creative sort, if perhaps not quite “better than Zidane” as the Bantams fans sing).

[BWFC_Insane]

Relevant question: Will we have Parky as a manager, assuming we go up, and can he work the same magic a level higher? Not a negative view, just wondering what he's thinking right now. If we do go, somebody will probably be head hunting him as a safe bet.

Was discussing this the other day. Why was he never poached earlier during his success at Bradford? I suspect it's to do with the one dimensional nature of the football his teams play.
So yes, he does have something to prove at Championship level. I think he is organised and efficient enough to keep us up which will be great first season, but then only time will tell if he has the attacking coaching nous to push on.
Clearly he'll need access to better players too, but we don't know what the finances will be like.
As long as we are skint he's absolutely the best we could get, and has done a fantastic job this season.

This is just wrong IMHO. The same sort of thing was thrown at Allardyce by Newcastle, Spurs, West Ham fans.

There are managers who work to what they have available and maximising that, in whatever way they can, to get results. Parkinson is one of those. He is exactly the sort required by a club who are very light on financial resources. Very similar in my view to when Allardyce was here at first. Finances very tight but he found ways to maximise what he had.

I think the managers to avoid are the ones who bang on about "projects" and playing in a "certain way". That is fine and good if you have the time and cash to build that sort of side. But when you don't you end up with a manager insisting on things that simply don't work.

I think we've been incredibly flexible this season. Going from a restrictive, diamond midfield, to a more flowing with creative outlets 4-5-1, to a functional 3-5-2. The football has altered to suit the players we had. When Zach and Sammy were flying we played to their strengths. When we lost them we had to find a way of playing to suit Morais and Le Fondre. We've done it.

None of that is one dimensional. None. I think we've relied on a target man at times, as many teams do, but that has been down to a lack of any passing or movement quality in midfield. Something that Parky has had little opportunity to change over the season as it is an area we've been well stocked in numbers wise and with the squad size restrictions.....

Lets get over the line then worry about it. I'd not swap Parky though for anyone right now. We've finally found a manager who isn't a clueless dreamer after a string of those. We want someone who can nurture us through against the still tricky financial backdrop, by necessity that may not be pretty for the next few years. But christ, we've seen the alternative and desperately must avoid going backwards.

[popeyedoyle]

Following on from DSB theme, I'll bet Parky has quite a few players in mind from other third tier teams already, players he thinks can make the step up assuming we go up. We should be able to prise them away, not by offering massive wages, those days are gone but a step up to a higher league should be enough.

[TANGODANCER]

Watched the Youth Cup the other night and was mightily impressed with the lad who played right back for Stoke ?

[knobpolisher]

Watched the Youth Cup the other night and was mightily impressed with the lad who played right back for Stoke ?

Don't go down that slippy route the scousers have just been fined and banned for grooming youngsters from Stoke.

[Harry Genshaw]

What's the deal with Alnwick and Howard? Do we own either or both of them? We've got the return of the very expensive Amos to look forward to next year

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

What's the deal with Alnwick and Howard? Do we own either or both of them? We've got the return of the very expensive Amos to look forward to next year

Both Parky's keepers are under permanent contract until summer 2018. Amos is until summer 2019.

Of the loanees in the current squad, Thorpe, A Taylor, James Henry and ALF are all out of contract in summer; Longy is contracted to Burnley until 2018, Viv Solomon-Otabor is contracted to Birmingham until 2019.

[Abdoulaye's Twin]

Own up, which pair of muppets voted for Walker?

Who is making Insano look sane by voting for Moxey?