After my. Favourite city team of all time I have decided to put together my worst city team of my time watching City. These players may not have been the worst but some came with reputations that they never lived up to!

1) Robert Zabica- his one game in goals ended up with with us getting thrashed in what was a top of the table clash against Sunderland. it also nearly resulted in me getting sacked from my part time job as I rang in sick to catch the game!

2) Gary Locke- just for you Suggie, utter dross, really was dire. Enough said

3) Richard Edgehlll- woeful with his right foot so why he ever played on the left I don’t know!

4) Gordon Cowens- great player in his day but not for us, just beats Mike Duxbury into my team for his inept performances during our first season back in league one

5) Craig Lawford- anybody who has ever watched city will remember that this guy was no Dean Richards, I would list his bad points but to be honest there isn’t enough time

6)Jason Gavin need I say more he was pure garbage- how he played Premiership football Is beyond me

7) Gareth Evens- not bought as a winger but spent a lot of time not delivering crosses from the right wing. I really don’t understand how he was ever on the books of Manchester United

8) Paul McLaren - came on the back of making the most assists in the division above and after featuring in the league team of the year. Was pretty poor when it came down to it. Seamed to believe his own hype.

9) Michael McHugh- just pure shocking!!!!

10) Frank Stapleton- why frank oh why did you put a stain on a great career by trying to do the player manager role.

11) this position I’ve struggled with but I think I will have to go with little Kyle Nix, for those who slag Will Atkinson off this season must have short memories as ‘Nixy’ was truly awful.

Those who were considered

Darren holloway
Jari Vanhala
Kevin Megson
Every player John Dochety signed other than Phil Babb
Ian Bowling
Robert Steiner (after his loan)
Tommy Doherty
Jorge Cadette
And the wrong Rodriguez!
David Hopkin

Please feel free to comment and add your own idea’s on your worst ever team!

Skipton and Craven Bantams will be running a trip to Wigan for the Capital One Cup clash at the DW Stadium

The bus will leave from Chavspoons in Skipton at 1pm and will head straight back to Skipton after the game. 

Cost will be £18 for members £20 for non members.

If you are interested in going please register your interest either on twitter @RushyGRFC or by email to Rushy_uk@yahoo.co.uk

If your not serious about travelling please don’t register your interest as we have had to turn people down on previous trips only for people not to turn up. This costs the club valuable funds! 

The first Skipton and Craven Bantams Supporters Club meeting of the season will take place on Wednesday 10 October at Herriots Hotel, Skipton. The evening will begin at 7.15pm. James Meredith, our sponsored player, will be our guest for the evening. Entrance on the night will be £2 for members and £4 for non-members. Membership, at a cost of £5 for the 2012/13 season, will be available on the night. All city fans are welcome. Please come and support us.

After this weekends performance by Gareth Evans letting City fans have it when celebrating his goals it got me thinking. I read his remarks in the press this week and actually found myself having some sympathy with him to an extent. He had a very promising first season after his arrival from Macclesfield but then, circumstances like injuries and change of managers meant his City career stuttered.

I though he was poor in his last season with us and a lot of the crowd let him know it. I will say here that I have honestly never booed a player wearing the Claret and Amber shirt of City no matter how badly they have played. I think its counter productive and not conducive to helping the player one bit.

Move forward to the next season after his move to the Millers. He arrived at Valley Parade and very early on received an injury courtesy of Michael Flynn that severely disrupted his season. He was again abused as he was on the ground and as he left the pitch. Welcome back Gareth!!!

I don’t applaud the opposition as the come out unless like last years final fixture with Swindon, they are the Champions and I usually applaud any ex-Bantams if I can remember them. I might not like other teams but I respect them and my tribalism for City is as strong as anyone else but I can’t get my head around abusing players who once put an honest shift in for my club. Surely it just fires them up even more to do well against us which I said is counter productive.

I might be getting old but respect is a huge thing for me and I wish I could see the sportsmanship in football that appears to be normal behaviour in other sports without all the nastiness and underhand skullduggery that pots of money seem to bring to the table. Call me naive but you won’t find me baiting or abusing any player with hate filled fury. I wouldn’t like it after a bad day at the office and i’m sure most wouldn’t either.

@Ihemmens
@SkiptonBantams

If members are interested there will be a few S &C members travelling over to Accrington on Saturday for the game.

Confirmed plans are as follows

9.50am Colne - Accrington train (£5.20 return)

10.30am Meet for breakfast
The Commercial Hotel (Chavspoons)
1 Church Street
Accrington
Lancashire
BB5 2EN

After Breakfast and a pint Accy Gaz will be conducting a tour of the sights and sounds of sunny Accrington with a number of stops at local watering holes! The tour is included in your S & C membership!

See you Saturday

Rushy

Skipton and Craven Bantams will be running trips to the following games next season.

A mini bus is booked for the following games

Chesterfield
Morecambe (only 3 seats left)

Could people please register interest in the below games. We are considering running a mini bus, if not a car pool

Rotherham
Rochdale

By Train

Accrington
York
Cheltenham

We are currently looking at running  a trip to Torquay - Sunday- Tuesday

Fleetwood Away 2nd Feb £65 based on twin occupancy. Maximum of 14 people minimum of 10

Price includes

Return Mini bus from Skipton - Colne (7.15am Sat 2nd Feb)
Return train travel
1 nights accommodation at the Hilton Blackpool

If interested tweet us @skiptonbantams or @RushyGRFC

The next Skipton and Craven Bantams Supporters Club meeting will take place on Wedndesday 20th June at Herriots Hotel, Skipton. The evening will begin at 7.30pm. Former BBC Radio Leeds Head of Sport Derm Tanner and the Telegraph and Argus Simon Parker, will be our guests for what will be a very enjoyable evening. Entrance on the night will be £2 for members and £4 for non-members. Membership, at a cost of £5 per season, will be available on the night. All city fans are welcome. Please come and support us.

@skiptonbantams

Season Tickets - Whats Happening?

As we approach the last week of the cheap offer for Season Tickets for this year, i’m distinctly underwhelmed by the response. Please don’t think i’m criticising anyone here, everyone has their own perfectly valid reasons why they may not have purchased yet or, in fact, aren’t going to bother buying one at all.

Due to very prudent saving and a couple of sacrifices, my Son & I have bought our usual seats in the Kop. This year has been hard for me financially due to both working and personal circumstances and for maybe the first time in years I really did consider whether to make the effort. If we had lost our place in League Football and with it a possible move to Odsal, it was a no brainer. The end of my 45 year affair with Bradford City. The mere thought of Odsal is soul destroying to me. I hate the place and even as a very young boy taken to watch Speedway & Bradford Northern, I hated it then. I just find it soulless & cold.

My Son has been following City since the Todd years only mainly due to education and other interests but he has known only a continual downward spiral and I really do feel for him. He has no great memories to hang on to to encourage his support. 

Thankfully he is the loyal type and we have decided to get our tickets. I do see a brightish light if PP is allowed to manage and build a team. It might take time but we’ve been waiting 12 years to halt the decline.

As I’ve mentioned, everyone will have their own story why only 3000 have been sold. Everyone is having to tighten belts as it were at the moment, maybe people aren’t enamoured by PP and his style of management although after Todd & Taylor, anything would be better!. I know several are waiting on paychecks at the last minute before committing. I also know a few who will not return to City whilst the present incumbents of the Boardroom are still in situ. That of course is their choice.

Many simply cannot afford to commit the money at this time of year no matter how good an offer is and also many keep their powder dry till they start seeing players being signed.

By the time July comes around I expect the club to have possibly extended the offer and be in a position to give PP his proposed playing budget but I fear it might be a more reduced budget than he was maybe promised or expected. Time will tell.

@IHemmens
@SkiptonBantams

What Now for City
by Ian Hemmens

Now we can sit back & relax knowing our fate for the next season what will the Summer bring for City& its long suffering fans?

We’ve seen the retained list posted with as always, opinions divided as to who should have been retained, who should leave & who should perhaps be given a second chance.

Personally i was saddened by the lack of progress shown by the likes of Dominic Rowe, Darren Stephenson & Andrew Burns but then again they were never given a chance due to circumstances of the teams precarious position. Having said that, its a bugbear of mine that Phil Parkinson could pick the likes of Charlie Taylor, Andy Haworth, Adam Reed & Will Atkinson before any of our young players to see if they had the calibre to be of 1st team standard.

From Phil Parkinsons position though, results were everything and his stance has probably been vindicated by our survival. Next season though, if as rumoured, the substitute rule goes back to 7, i’d like to see 1 place on the bench being given to a promising youngster who has been showing promise and attitude in both training & reserve & youth fixtures.

Throughout the Summer & despite Euro 2012, most City fans will be watching the rumour machine and the press for any hint of who might be arriving at VP? 

I always think a good early signing gets the supporters buzzing and also gets Season Ticket sales moving at a better rate than stories about how the grass is growing. 

Already the early name is Kelvin Etuhu and it will remain to be seen whether PP gets his man. With the names on the retained list, several signings will need to be made to supplement the players already remaining and hopefully those who have been offered renewals. Certainly the squad next year will be under pressure to start producing and giving us fans hope that at last, the club have bottomed out and are starting the long journey back up to were we hopefully belong which is surely out of this division.

PP will have his own squad finally in place and with a pre-season behind him, will be expected to start producing results that hopefully lead to a season of at least progress and at best a promotion campaign.

Last years home form was at last a step in the right direction and hopefully the team can add that steeliness to matches on their travels. I think and i hope that Phil Parkinson can be the man to lead us forward. Heres hoping.

@IHemmens
@SkiptonBantams

Thankfully, after the superb victory at Sixfields versus Northampton Town we are just about safe in League Two for next year barring some upheavel of Biblical proportions.

The season has been typically City of the last few years with  a vision of promise and progress only to fall away to the struggles and problems that won’t seem to go away.

I think Phil Parkinson will be the man at the helm next season and he can now start making concrete plans to finally start moving the club back in an upwards direction. Which players should be kept to make the basis of the squad for next season and which will not be in his plans. Of course the board will bang the drum for season ticket sales to help the managers budget. I know a lot of people were being very cautious and not committing to buying a season ticket until our fate was known. I include myself in that number for several reasons which i think are valid.

Now we appear to be safe i think a lot of those fans might just ease the purse strings open and commit to buying although some  still need to be won over by Phil Parkinsons methods. Personally, i yearn for some stability at the club and i’m prepared to give him his opportunity to build a team.

Now then, who should stay & who should leave? Ask 10 fans and I bet you’ll get 10 different selections, thats the thing about football, its opinions.

I can see the likes of Mitchell & Stewart returning to Scotland. Luke Dean hasn’t progressed as we would have hope and neither has Steve Williams for me. Do we keep the elder statesmen like Ramsden, Flynn & Bullock & Kozluk? What about Fagan, do we offer him a deal? I don’t think Atkinson, Smalley & Haworth have impressed enough to be offered deals and what about Fry? Young with potential but can he do it? Where do the likes of Rowe, Burns & Overson stand? Will they be given a chance? Is he happy with Duke & Johnny Mac as his keepers?

Plenty for him to think about before he starts bring any new faces in. Could be an interesting Summer………….again!!!

@IHemmens
@SkiptonBantams