The Voice - Match preview #25: Bradford City vs Rotherham United Tuesday 24 February 2026 7.45pm

Thanks, man. Landed at 8.30 and was at my daughter's by 10 tucking into a lovely cooked breakfast. She's got plans today so I'm at a bit of a loss. Do you still have pubs in this country?

 

Thousands travelling?
I have empathy where it’s appropriate. Calling games off 5 hours before kick off when the temperature is warming up I can’t get onboard with just to save ‘thousands’ travelling ‘just in case’

 

Obviously not, but it is still possible to sympathise with those who have travelled long distances at some expense, surely.

 

we have sat games only for the next 2 weeks surly the game can be arranged sometime in the
middle of either week.

 

Feel for the folk having to make that decision because they cant get it right whatever they do easy if it was full of snow but when its 50/50 they cannot win it may be ok come 2pm but on the other hand it may still be unplayable ...........and on that i think theyve got it right in not running the risk of thousands setting off already.

 

The club got a local ref to do a precautionary check of the pitch yesterday and he deemed it playable at that point. Temperatures last night dropped lower than expected. The ref for today's game has reassessed the playing surface and has made the decision it's now not playable. That's it. No conspiracy theories. My garden is rock hard, there's still frost on the roof and ice on my windscreen, despite the sun shining all morning. It might well turn out to be a blessing in disguise the game is off but to suggest the pitch is playable and the club have somehow persuaded the ref to come to the conclusion that it's not is ridiculous.

 

Yes of course, those are cases where I do have sympathy and only highlights that the club didn’t do enough to ensure the game went ahead so those fans who have travelled very long distances aren’t out of pocket.
The vast majority of the crowd would have been travelling from local areas and so not a big deal

 

The pre match is as big as a part of the day as the game......

 

If its so important then go ahead and do it

 

Bottom line is after the pitch inspection yesterday and announcing no plans for a further inspection the club had more of an obligation to put measures in place to ensure the pitch was protected. Otherwise they should have called it yesterday.

 

No one is asking for such a ridiculous thing. I knew the risk. The guy's just expressing sympathy. It's clear that you like an argument but give it a rest sometimes. Not everything is an attack on how 'Loyal' a Bantam you are.

 

Most of our fans tend to come from outside Bradford,
I wonder what we are all trying to tell the locals

 

You’ve got the wrong end of the stick pal. I do have sympathy for you that you’ve travelled unnecessarily. However, like you say, you knew the risks and so would 17000 others if the inspection had been delayed until say 1pm.
Those 17000 would have had a choice and so would the away fans.

 

Clear blue skys, regardless of how cold it is if it can’t be on then the covers are not fit for purpose. Not a dig at the club as such, but maybe it’s time clubs were made to invest in better technology or given grants, so that games go ahead except for in the very worst situations. That or change it to a summer sport.

 

Is it balls, if they choose to be fan owned and now can't get said funds from fans then that's there issue.

Should rules be different for non cash rich or poorly run clubs?

 

I get that. I just don't think it's necessary to drop snide comments on someone who simply said they felt sorry for us long distance travellers.

 

Agree - I don’t think it’s a conspiracy that it’s off but could the club have done more to get the game on?
We ask managers to have a Plan A, B and C for in-game tactics - do the club have alternative plans if the weather isn’t as forecasted?

 

No further inspection required - yeah right.

Don’t believe or buy the T& A - sh&te, waste of money. Negative paper that doesn’t help the city of Bradford.

 

It’s crap when you’ve come as far as you have - I’m doing the return on Monday night… hope it’s not foggy!!!

 

I guess without hundreds of thousands not invested what can they really do ???????