In today's Daily Mail there is an article about Mark Hughes and his plans to resurrect "the sleeping giant Bradford City." Funny but I recall them being Pools opponents quite regularly down the years near the bottom of the FL. OK, so they had their flirtation with the top league but now its all about their huge crowds for division 2. Figures of 18,000 often quoted and their expectation of 15,000 for opening home game. Regarding Mark Hughes as a manager but not a player his stats are not all that impressive: He has taken charge of 623 games as a manager and has managed a win rate of 38%. That win rate seems about the norm for a glut of managers(mostly those who flit about the championship). Will the sleeping giant arise with Sparky. I think it was not long after Pools turned them over down there last season and just after he was appointed. They come to The Vic on 20 August and Pools visit Valley Parade on 18 March next year.

He’s an ego who takes being himself very seriously. I was shaking my head and laughing once when he was being interviewed at his home and had his grand chair in front of his magnificent trophy cabinet framing him. I could never take him seriously after that.

Chesterfield beat them 3-0 today, The natives are not happy.

They take themselves really serieously.

[quote="ToTheHartlepool2-0"]In today's Daily Mail there is an article about Mark Hughes and his plans to resurrect "the sleeping giant Bradford City." Funny but I recall them being Pools opponents quite regularly down the years near the bottom of the FL. OK, so they had their flirtation with the top league but now its all about their huge crowds for division 2.
think they won the FA Cup once pre WW1. Apart from that from the early 20,s to the mid 60,s they spent most of the time playing second fiddle to bradford park avenue as the cities top club. its the size of their gates that make em a so called sleeping giant. just wonder what their gates would have been the last few seasons if they charged an average price for season tickets.

Possibly the reason for the larger than average attendances at Bradford are the Season Ticket prices, Adult £198 and concession one is £174, they have sold just over 14000 for next season. ground is The stadium is owned by the previous chairmans Pension Fund.

yes, and the population of bradford and its metropolitan district on top of large towns bordering that helps as well. not everyone is into leeds or huddersfield and the next dest bet would be travelling over the pennines with its winter problems and a third rate train service.

All my life I’ve just thought of Bradford and even the long gone Bradford Park Avenue as just average lower league teams like us…. Ok they may have sold 14,000 cheap season tickets, but that’s certainly not sleeping giant status by any stretch of the imagination….. in this Division it’s a good number but anywhere above us nah.

just as same as all our opponents next season. there is not a single one of them just falling on hard times but more or less playing the standard they have mostly been at for 50 years. even afc arrogant of greater manchester spent longer in non league obscurity than pools ever have.

I think it’s fair to say Bradford are a sleeping giant. Their ground holds 25,000 and the population of the city is 370,000. That’s about four times the size of our ground and town and they have been in the Premier League in recent memory. Leeds were the ultimate sleeping giant when we were in League One with them but Bradford shouldn’t be in League 2 with them being such a big city with only one team.

Wales had to play him in midfield when they also had Saunder, Rush and Giggs up front.
The matches were entertaining and attacking which is all they could do when the defence was from Wrexham etc.

We’ll if they’re a sleeping giant they want to set the alarm clock and get out of bed.
Sleeping giants tend to remain sleeping giants, because we’re talking potential, not product.

they are where they are on merit though. before covid and him packing up the guy who cut my hair was a bradford city season ticket holder. from his own admission they were where they were through a mixture of bad management in every part of the club with less than ideal owners. something closer to home as well in the past. its like pools getting to a major final, having a good cup run and raj leaves the club and somehow we find the debt worse than what it ever was.

If Pools finish higher than Bradford at the end of this season it will probably mean we have been promoted. They've signed a dozen players with proven ability in the EFL and Hughes will have to really stuff things up for them not to go close.

https://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/ ... er-window/

They have brought in that Critchlow who was on loan at Pools.

Bet he is first manager to be sacked in league two.

He was interviewed on Talksport this morning.
Now I’ve criticised him in the past, but he came across as grounded, sensible and actually downplaying fans expectations. He seemed a bit more humble if that’s the right word and accepted that after leaving Southampton he said he realised that the phone was not going to ring from clubs at the top level anymore and appeared happy to work his way back up, but not in a boastful way.
Good interview.