The Voice - Match preview #34: Reading vs Bradford City Saturday 28th February 2026 3:00pm

Why wouldn’t you expect Lincoln to do well ? They have had multiple transfer windows in this division compared to ours . By definition their squad should be stronger ?

 

I never said I wouldn't expect Lincoln to do well. I said that on 2nd of January we could have overtaken them if we won our game in hand. And multiple transfer windows doesn't automatically make you stronger.

 

Don't forget Beesley. Dunno if "panic" is the right way to label some of these signings, maybe "lazy" fits better? The only reason i say lazy, is because there's practically sod all to scout on these lads between April/May last season and January.

Sibley, played 9, 9 & 1 minutes in his 3 Champ appearances this season at Oxford and two sub cameos in the EFL cup. Joe White picked up an injury fairly early in his Orient spell and again didn't play too often even when fit. Ashby had a thigh injury from the summer, played a handful of U21 games this season. Jackson is already about half an hours worth of minutes away from playing more league minutes at City than he did for Derby in the first half of the year. Mullin another with few opportunities at Wigan. Evans feels like a panic one for sure given Pattison left early but no other CMs came in until Deadline Day, Wheatley looked like he was impressing at Northampton in a team with poor attacking output, but he didn't exactly jump off the page.

However if this was last summer, Sibley had just had a fairly decent loan at Rotherham playing multiple positions. White had just seen a very impressive goal and assist return at MK Dons, Ashby had just had a run in the Champ on loan, Jackson had just featured in all 46 CH games for Derby, Evans playing 42 games with 10 goal involvements at Blackpool, Wheatley with a poor Walsall loan but he had recently won Man United U21 POTY so you'd think there's something showing and Mullin coming off an injury but knowing nothing but promotions for the last few years of his career might bring in some winning mentality. It to me feels like we maybe had these lads on a long list in the summer but couldn't get deals over the line and rather than looking elsewhere, we tried going back to guys who had better 24/25 seasons and few have really looked settled. Probably because most have had little to no match sharpness since the end of 24/25.

 

It's hard to quantify squad strength tbf.. look at Luton, Hudders, Stockport, whose squads were being touted as the best and all 3 vying for the automatics whereas Bradford City have a largely aging squad who were expected to finish lower mid table or fighting relegation. It's down to tactics, team work and team harmony is why we are contending and why we have had positive outcomes against those aforementioned teams either winning twice in Stockport's case or on aggregate goals for the other 2. There are no easy games I agree but it's down to mentality from now on. How much do the players want it, Will the manager coaching staff find a way to to outthink the opposition on the run-in.. time will tell.

 

I agree, and this is where I think GA needs to use his experienced players at least at some point in the game. Bringing Mullin on vs Reading for the last ten mins or so would have been beneficial, not just for his sh1thousery, but also his experience in game situations like that. Evans also. Its time to make use of these streetwise players a lot more than we're doing - especially when we're one nil up with only injury time to play. Know what Mullin is like and listening to his interview the other week, I bet he's chomping at the bit to get some game time.

 

Practical terms yes it it does because they have been buying from L1/CC for 6 or more seasons , we have been recruiting from L2/L1 for two seasons. If your bar is higher it generally follows suit the higher one can jump. Remember little old Lincoln out bid us by a mile for the services of Paudie and Vernham?

 

Go on then I might grudgingly agree with some of this, but I'm sure if I could be bothered I could find several established L1 teams languishing mid table or below, despite their years of L1 transfer windows. Regarding Paudie and Vernham. Every player has his worth. If Lincoln's billionaire owners wanted to pay more than we thought they were worth then so be it

 

5th best squad or not we had a huge chance to strengthen it come January and we aint in fact its worse .............btw who saying any game is easy ?????
We are simply pulling your posts up making out EVERY Club we play is on par with the top clubs when the table and recent form suggest different.

No easy games dont get me wrong but there are easier ones put it this way we Leyton Orient and Vale next would you say they where easier games than say the top 2 ????

 

Every team we seem to play he makes out they are in form and we should be scared of them ........ he had Peterborough out as in form and flying when the reality was they had the odd good result but where stuck in midtable ..............


Btw Leyton Orients last 10 away results



Lost 8
Drew 1
Won 1

Should we fear that.I know football aint that easy but surly you can go into a game confident up against that type of form

 

GA's mantra is that they treat every game the same. Makes sense as there is no room for fear or hubris in football.

 

Just for clarification , Lincoln didn’t have billionaire owners until about 4 weeks ago .

 

Tbh I thought so too but I had a Google and I think the previous major shareholders were too - Jabara family

 

Good shout. They took the major share in Jan 24 . So even more behind the Lincoln investment curve ball than we both thought?

 

Am example against this would be in 2018/19. Bradford City had 6 seasons worth of transfer windows at league 1 level and ended 24th. Luton Town had non having just come up from league two after years in non league and at league 2 level, they ended first. Time elapsed guarantees nothing. We haven’t ended about Huddersfield in over 20 years, but look set to despise all their ‘higher dealings’. As for Lincoln, ignore who their new owner is. Sparks recently said we have the 12th highest budget in the league, Lincoln’s CEO said the have the 18th highest. Each club is told their respective position (but not the other teams) by the EFL in terms of budgets. Lincoln have massively overachieved, we haven’t ended also tbf. But we aren’t some poor relation against the nightly big spending Lincoln, I think you said yourself we had the chance to overtake them at the start of January. Our January business has been a failure there’s no other way to dress it up, that doesn’t mean our summer business was or our season overall has been a failure.

 

Only real difference the January transfer has made is playing Jackson in the striker role. The rest bench warmers at best. Playing devils advocate you could say that Alexander trusts in his first eleven when fit thats got us in to the playoffs.

 

If only he’d be consistent in playing his trusted first eleven ?

 

Hahaha i knew i was walking into that one when i posted it. He has tried some of the transfer window signings but either their position is taken by a better player, for example Ashby and Neufville, or others don't kinda fit what Alexander does such as Mullin and Sibley.

 

Whilst agreeing somewhat have a read of the history of Luton’s ownership from 2018 onwards …..Shrouded in dirty dealings and backstabbing for sure to say the least . At one stage the club was sold for £4, forced and deliberate administrations and so on by men of wealth . To say they were “ owned” by a supporters “ trust” ……Mmmmmmm? A cover ?

 

I couldn’t resist .

 

At what point does football bring in financial governance that is actually fit for purpose? Saying that and seeing how clubs like Manchester City are allowed to circumnavigate whatever rules are brought in, i'm not sure this 'governance' could ever be implemented.