One thing worth underlining and I think worth its own thread is that five years without a trophy is hardly an eon. Saints, Leeds, Wire, both the Hull clubs and ourselves have had far longer spells in the doldrums.

All efforts should be made to end this as soon as possible. But I find ivehadenoughism rather odd. This mix of frustration and occasional elation is the natural state of a sports supporter. It was the elation OD of 1996-2005 that was the oddity.

good point mate, i think the thing annoying most people is that we wonso much in those years and they have see the team get dismantled and now are not used to watching crap rugby. As for me just read my sig

It's not the winning of trophies its the position in the league that frustrates me, if we were up there vying for places that’s fine, but to be way down in the bilges sob sob

Good point Bulliac, but I was born in 1995 -_-, however I go to Odsal with my grandad, this is the worst Bradford team (over 3 seasons) I have seen with my own eyes, but my grandad always points out there was class in those 3 seasons (Deacon, Newton, Morrison, Menzies, Hall, Orford, Kearney, L'estrange) but back in the day when Northern got relegated they didn't have class.

And tbh I know what losing all the time feels like, and im talking losing by 40-80 points a game. So it doesn't bother me as much as others, however it is fustrating when im stood on the terraces calling plays we should have done.

I guess this is the frustration of the eternal optimist. It doesn't really matter how many times you've lost in the past, because you've gone to the game thinking you might win, it still hurts when you end up watching the team losing the next one. I suppose the experiences just allow you to put it into context.

It's the lack of pride and passion that bugs me.

Agreed

looking on the bright side: Season tickets should be cheap again next year

I'm well used to mediocrity and false dawns having seen a few since I started going at the beginning of the 80s. It made the success of 96-05 all the sweeter.

That said as a club we really ought to be higher up the table. In my experience over the past 30+ years we've usually been in the top 8 somewhere. Recent seasons have been poorer than the average.

Ah......a glory fan from the early eighties!! Won two championships and thought it would go on forever..

Funnily enough, though I obviously don't really know what anyone else was thinking back then, most folk seemed pleasantly surprised at the first and to be honest pretty shocked with the way results panned out on that final day to give us the second successive championship. What I'm trying (somewhat clumsily) to say is that no-one really thought (or certainly never said openly) that it was the start of an era, or that it was going to go on and on. Everyone was just happy to have some success without thinking it promised anything for the following year. The differences between then and now seem immense. Or was it just that we didn't have message boards in the early eighties?

Fair enough, there's a big difference between winning twice in the eighties and what we got from 1997 to 2005; I guess over the longer period the expectation got hardwired to some extent. Either that or we've got more fickle over the years, though crowds were up and down back then, so clearly many were voting with their feet in the eighties. I wish I had some answers to go with the questions........

When did that happen?


.

1970s In 1972-3 Bradford lost the Challenge Cup final against Featherstone 33-14. In 1973-4 Bradford won the Second Division Championship and were promoted back to the First Division

This is the Histoy, well part of it. So if we go promoted BACK INTO the First Div then we must have been relegated.

I'm working on memory rather than anything written down in front of me, but I believe you are wrong

I think that what happened was that 1973 was the point at which the two division setup was first started. This was done by simply drawing a line halfway down the league table for the previous season. And since we finished in the bottom half of what was then one league (despite reaching Wembley that year) we ended up in the new 2nd Division.

So, technically, we were not actually 'relegated'

** takes off pedant hat **

I've followed Bradford since 1952 and have seen many ups and downs, but mostly downs.

It isn't the fact that we're not winning much now that bothers me and it isn't the fact that we're near the bottom of the table. What does bother me though is our style of play....too many "schoolboy errors".....no game plan....and a total lack of match fitness.