Match Thread #39: Burton Albion vs Bradford City Saturday 21st March 2026 3:00pm

The game is likely to be wedged between the Stevenage and Barnsley games and will be massive if we have a poor Easter.
Wonder if the Tuesday night stay away fans will make an appearance to give the team a boost?

 

Some observations on our recruitment:

Barnsley fans tell us Humphrys is a decent player but can't play centrally up front. GA plays him there for most of the season before tacitly admitting he was wrong.
Swann has a bright few games but then is injured or completely ineffective ever since.
Wrexham fans tell us Mullin is a goalscorer but only playing off a target man. So we try to play him as a target man. Then he virtually disappears. Hasn't scored.
Joe White can't get into a poor Orient side but we sign him anyway. Disappears.
Sibley can't get into a poor Oxford side not far above us in the pyramid. Disappears after dreadful performance.
Ashby. A couple of sub appearances then bench now disappeared.
Wheatley. A wide player who rarely scores. Doesn't score. Played as a target man. Way out of his depth.
Evans. Blackpool fans say he's well past it. He is. Signed to cover Power for two games.
Jackson. Derby fans delighted they've got rid of him. Say he tries a lot and never gets injured but is useless. Looks slightly promising but gets injured. Has two and a half year contract at 32.
Powell. A couple of sub appearances early on . Injured and disappeared.
Not really very impressive is it?

 

Yeah, I've missed quite a few Tuesdays but I'll definitely be there for that one. Are you taking a register?

 

doesn't look good i agree, yet our summer signings have us with a chance of a play-off final.
come next summer, regardless of division, we need to build extensively but shrewdly on what we have.
I take solace knowing that Hudders have spent millions on transfers and wages and sit 9th with only a small chance of attaining 6th.

 

After your second sentence I bet the rest is dross . Looking at who “liked” it I’m right

 

The only crumb of comfort after watching yet another away day shit show is that you can always go on the doggies forum for a laugh/cheering up.
https://downatthemac.proboards.com/thread/121976/plymouth-argyle-town-match-thread?page=17

 

I won’t because I don’t want to or give a toss what anyone thinks. I’ll watch it on Bantams player and pay my usual £10 towards the clubs coffers.

 

The negative brigade . Just go on Hudds forum , Down at the Mac and get oneself cheered up . They have all given up and everyone should be sacked , inc the whole playing squad . Hate to tell em May and Taylor are on huge, long deals
. I feel better now .

 

You could even play Sarce in the advanced CM role. Anything will do, other than a setup that unless we score first, doesn’t work!

 

worse second half this season. every substitution GA makes nearly always ends in disaster.

 

I wasn't really thinking of having an advanced CM role. Just flood the midfield and make us bloody hard to play through. 3-5-1-1 if you like.

 

Shambolic defending right across the board.

 

I meant more he would be the one advancing when we go forward but either way, I agree with your formation. Wild as it is at this stage in the season, how long can we rely on scoring first as our only chance of getting anything away.

 

GA has a lot of credit for the job he has done for the club, we can’t deny that. However, (and to some this will come across as harsh) to be a successful manager you need to be able to sign and get the best out of every player at the club and move up to the next level.
It may be down to the fact that we have limited resources and we are signing players that will do a job for this moment in time, do we have a plan for if we do get promoted and do the players we have at the club, will they be able to play at the next level?
What is the long term vision for this club?

 

And yet we sit 4th in the league, with 7 games to go, having come up the season before, and with a squad that clearly needed improving upon. Perhaps the January window could have been better, the biggest disappointment for me being Sibley, but who in league one had a great window? Looking at the table, Plymouth aside, it hasn't shifted much at all since February the 1st.

We've tried to bring in players to strengthen, whilst simultaneously removing players deemed not good enough, which isn't easy to accomplish in January, (unless you have a benefactor, which we don't) to the extent we had to loan out several of them, and every single one of those players is now playing in the league below, which is telling.

And it seems a bit selective to have only included recruited players you seem to consider a failure. To add some balance, what about including players like Power, Metcalfe, Touray, Tilt and Neufville? maybe even Joe Wright? All recruited in the summer, have all had really good seasons I think.

Even Humprhys has contributed, he's marmite, he's probably not playing in his favourite position, he frustrates the hell out of everyone because we can see theirs a player there, but its league one football, we took a chance on him on our first season back, from a relegated championship side, and predictably, he's not been consistent.

Seems to be so much negativity about why we've not done this and that, and I get it, we've got ourselves in a fantastic position after where we were, and every City fan is desperate for us to push on and achieve the next step, but some of the criticism is excessive I think and lacks perspective about just exactly where we were (floundering in league two) and where we now are, a year later, pushing to maintain a play off spot in league one.

It's not like we stormed league two and have now stagnated, we scraped it by the skin of our teeth and have now massively exceeded the performances of the teams that came up with us, (and let's be honest, our own expectations) and I think the club and the management team, including the recruitment team deserve a lot of credit for what they've done.

 

We should've been ahead before they even had a sniff but if you don't take your chances that's what happens.

More concerningly its another game where we've gone behind and had absolutely nothing in response. This team has been praised for its character but it is obviously a mental fragility at the minute that is costing us because we either score the first goal or its curtains for us.

 

That's an excellent response and I readily acknowledge that the recruitment we've done has somehow got us to where we are. We've certainly made some signings that have been fine for a club wanting to establish themselves in a higher league. What annoys me is that we could have done much better. If we'd been sitting in mid table and made the January signings we did we'd have all been happy that they would see us through to the end of the season. And I'd agree with all the departures.
But given our unexpectedly exalted position it's a bit annoying that we couldn't have done a bit better, particularly when the abilities, or lack of them, of those we signed were so well known. And there seems to have been a lot of late in the window panic, especially regarding Mullin who I'm certain was signed to appease those lamenting the loss of Cook. Although we're still well placed it's not beyond the bounds of possibility that we'll eventually drop out of the play off places which would be a disappointment but possibly better than losing in the first round or, even worse, losing at Wembley. I know you've got to grab every chance that comes your way but does anyone really think this squad, even with summer reinforcements, is anywhere near good enough to survive in the Championship?
PS I must disagree about Joe Wright whom I expressed doubts about on here after the very first game against Wycombe which have sadly been vindicated.

 

I don't get how the manager can be blamed for players not doing their job, be that Bobby or Tyreik not scoring or Baldwin not getting in front of his man allowing him to get what was virtually a free header, watching the first goal again Walker should have done better but if the defenders had done their job correctly the free kick would have been headed out of the box.

 

Burtons first goal, I know it was bad defending but what the hell was that bit of goalkeeping from Walker. I've watched it a few times now and it doesn't get any better, his getting down to save shots are slower than last season.

 

With the budget or lack of it what did you think was gonna happen ??????
Once no real decent transfers where not incoming before our horrible set of fixtures then this sadly was always gonna be on the cards a bunch of MAYBE signings and nothing else.

Msybe GA is simply showing us all how he has been let down in the window ............i mean lets have it right i bet we are theconly club within the top 10 who have had a window thats weakened us

Folk can continue to brush of the letting go of Cook but can anyone honestly say he wouldnt have had at least a few goals given game time ??????


Wherever we end up this season who knows but going forward he has to get on top of that piss poor away form deffo going into the next season .............we start dropping off at home then we are in big bother going forward