Are you watching, Rodney Marsh?

New salvo from the cockeyed Cockney

Rodney Marsh has a message for Bradford City fans: "You're going down."

And he says he expects the Bantams to get fewer points than even he thought they would at the start of the season.

But the pointed pundit is delighted to have his bald head at the top of a Bantams fanzine page. "It's certainly unique," he told us from his home in Tampa, Florida. "It's good stuff. It's become a bit of a rallying call for the team and the fans which is great."

Rodney upset City fans early in the season by predicting on Sky TV's Soccer Saturday that the side would go straight back to Division One where they came from. His words caused such a stir that we named this page after him and the chant now regularly heard at City games.

But the cock-eyed Cockney is taking it all in good part.

Though he now lives in the Sunshine State - he used to play for Tampa Bay Rowdies - Marsh recalls playing in Bradford. "I wanted to get out of there as quickly as possible," he told us. "It was raining heavily and I remember running to the station as fast as I could.

"Now I live in Tampa, I've been out by the pool today eating a croissant. Of course I'd much prefer to be in Bradford!"

We should point out that the Southern Softie has missed his last Soccer Saturday programmes on Sky, preferring to stay in golden Florida than face a London winter let alone a real man's winter in Yorkshire.

But Marsh admits City are making a fight of staying in the Premiership.

"They are battling hard," he says. "They are working and playing for each other and they have had some terrific results. But they are likely to go down.

"However I would like to put the record straight. It's nothing personal and I think people got the wrong end of the stick a little bit.

"On the show we were talking about teams which would go down. I said Wimbledon, Watford and Bradford. I was working on Bradford getting nine wins and ten draws - 37 points, which would probably not be enough.

"Then I saw Bradford play their first 12 games and I revised it downwards - to about 35 points. I could be spot on with that.

"I just didn't think Bradford had enough quality in the squad for the Premiership."

But the controversial commentator is a man of his word. He's coming to Bradford on May 11 for a Sky TV roadshow where he will face City fans' questions and comments. "I'm looking forward to it," he says.

And, as the T&A revealed last week, he's promised to have his head shaved for charity if City do survive. "I want to raise some money for the under-privileged children of Bradford," he says. "If we could do that it would be good. I do a similar thing for children here in Florida."

You can put your shirt on it: we've never had it so good

City are rubbish.

Where have I heard that before? Maybe it was at Darlington or Torquay during the better years, before we had to waste our time allowing lower-quality sides such as Manchester United, Arsenal and Leeds to spoil our enjoyment on a Saturday afternoon.

Call me sarcastic - it's one of the better things I've been called - but while our Johhny-come-lately fans surround me on a Saturday afternoon in their new club shirts and corporate outfits telling me how bad it is to support Bradford City, I wonder what they call success.

Up to about six years ago all you would see around the city centre would be Leeds or Man Utd shirts. Now you see City shirts.

Any thoughts of spending £500,000 on a player would have been absurd. Now we have £1m players in the squad. An all-seater stadium with four proper sides - the Midland Road shed could never be taken seriously - was a pipe dream.

Then a big bloke from Scarborough joined a long line of chairman saying if 5 years we'd be in the top flight. We all cheered under our breaths but said nothing.

But he was a man of his word and though we may not have agreed with his every move we cannot fault him for commitment.

So instead of complaining, get behind the team as we fight to stay in the top flight.

As some politician once said, we've never had it so good.

Lloyd Spencer

Bantams Banter

SIR - I travelled 250 miles to watch 22 men kick a ball around!

I spent £21 on a ticket to have to listen to some youth shout expletives down my ear non-stop for a full 20 minutes until I kindly asked him to refrain which he amazingly did.

City lost 4-0 and my friend said that this was their worst performance for a long time.

The team seemed so dejected that they didn't come to applaud the thousands who had travelled to see them.

I did enjoy my first ever football match - it was a grand day out, especially finding a pot noodle vending machine in Coventry bus station.

I would definitely go again.

Helen Rourke, Clayton

SIR - I had the pleasure of watching the famous Whites of Elland Road win the derby match against City.

I work with a City fan who was bitter Bantam on Monday, understandable in the circumstances.

If ever City were going to beat United it was then. The small bumpy pitch, Batty, Kewell and Woodgate injured. Fatigue after the UEFA Cup game, and finally the partisan home crowd.

I think United showed what a top class side they are, fully deserving the victory, City did not have one worthwhile effort on goal, except for Beagrie's excellent but speculative strike. Quite simply, Nigel Martin was not tested.

I can't understand why City supporters, seem to think they deserved a draw at least. It was a game of very few chances, with the best falling to United, we put our chances in the net and City didn't miss any chances because they created nothing.

Good luck to City in the fight against the drop, if they go down they will struggle to return. However if the team and supporters show the right commitment to the end of the season they will stay up.

Always remember City, you might be on our doorstep but you're not our rivals.

Graham Andrews, The Oval, Rothwell, Leeds

SIR - I, along with many more fans, was shocked and disappointed by the departure of Lee Mills to Manchester City.

With the number of crosses Beagrie and co put into the box a target man like Mills is just what City need. And if City do go down, Mills - with his great scoring record in Division One - would give us a great chance of bouncing back.

I know it's only a loan deal but I can't see him wearing a City shirt again.

Apparently Mills hadn't been happy all season but the fact Paul Jewell hadn't spoken to him for a month suggests other reasons for his departure. Surely a chat in the gaffer's office for half an hour could have sorted everything out.

Stuart Lidbury, Silsden

Get in touch! Send an email to us now.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.