The Voice - Match preview #31: Bradford City vs Stockport County Tuesday 17th February 2026 7:45pm

Edited, old age is a terrible thing .

 

No it ain't, it's to be cherished...!!

 

It’s better than the alternative

 

Like I said, MK Dons, Gillingham, Salford, and Town this season........you need a good manager to spend the money and coach the players. Its a straw man argument saying 'well he has spent XXX on players'.

 

There's an argument for that but the odds are certainly tipped in the favour of the big spenders and for every example like Huddersfield (who are 6th btw and still have a good chance of promotion) and Mk Dons who 4th and 6 points off top there are multiple example of teams that breeze through the leagues due to money.

Look at our division, every team except us are probably right up there in the top 6 or 7 in terms of budget.

 

Spot on. Using the pitch as an excuse is embarrassing. I'm of the age where I remember players not being scared of playing in a bit of mud, nowadays anything less than a bowling green is described as a poor pitch & used as an excuse. Makes me cringe! Granted our pitch at Edgeley park is top quality nowadays but it didn't stop us losing the fixture against Bradford earlier in the season did it Dave?

 

100% fully agree!! Arguably one of the most important players we’ve seen at this club in the last 10-15yrs?

Like Jones, my only disappointment is only getting to enjoy him at our club for what will realistically be the latter stages of his career. That said, I’ll take that time over none at all.

Amazing some on here speculated he could leave in January

 

Yep.. Stott has certainly backed you to the hilt in players and infrastructure.
what's happening with stadium plans?

 

Spot on , he is and on a long deal. Time will tell for sure.

 

Eastwood the gunslinger ?

 

Now yer talking

 

I find this style of management and leadership so dated nowadays. I’m not one for tip toeing around poor performance or not meeting expectation, but believe this style of openly deflecting responsibility can only get you so far. Time will tell I guess…

 

We had a bit of a battle with a residents group who'd decided that an overgrown piece of land behind one of our stands suddenly qualified as a nature reserve despite it being populated by rats & piss stained mattresses we won that but now the plans seem to have been put back a bit with nothing due to start until the end of next season & one of the proposed new stands is now seemingly dependant on us reaching the premier league.......so we'll probably never see that built then!
Stott has just invested heavily in Hungarian club Debrecen so god knows what his future plans for us are? He's been great for us & I'm eternally grateful for his backing & getting us out of non league but I get the impression if we don't get to the championship soon his patience will wear out.

 

When the money runs out in his case ? Yes totally agree he needs to know how to use it , but the million £ forwards they had on display last night Mothersille and Sibede……..really? The latter only scored 14 in 65 games aged 27 at the arse end of Scottish football wouldn’t go near Tilt in the end . That’s not dissimilar to Hudds spending £3.2 m on Taylor….Wow .

 

I'd liken Tilt more to Jules Winnfield.. "I'm just gonna walk the earth... like Caine in Kung Fu".

 

I think some are giving Wheatley a bit of an unfair bashing. I thought his movement was good. For the first time in ages, we had a striker who isn’t afraid to switch flanks as well as play through the centre. He was direct and held his own against the centre backs. Bower commented on his good upper body strength. Young lad learning the game, and I’m looking forward to see what he can do once he finds his groove.

 

And multiple examples of big budgets/spenders that fail...

Where were MK Dons last season? Gillingham and Salford nowhere to be seen either. Notts County always had a few quid to spend and they are still stuck in L2 aswell. Bolton and Town nowhere near the L1 play offs last term.

Lets talk about Carlisle....

 

That is certainly the case. I remember players splashing through proper puddles along the bit near the main stand at the Kop end. What Challinor fails to mention is that both sides have to play on the same pitch. To listen to him you would think that it was only Stockport that were being required to perform on a pitch that was less than perfect.

 

Notts County only survive because they recruit for nothing and sell on….Read their forum .

 

He did say it was the same for both sides, but then continued to witter on about it.