The Voice - Match preview League One Playoff Semi-Final: Bradford City vs Bolton Wanderers Thursday 14th May 2026 8:00pm

Lincoln and Cardiff are worthy auto's
We deserved our play off place
Atmosphere last night was amazing, shows what can be achieved
Maybe had we dropped a few points earlier we could have faced either Stevenage or Stockport at this stage..!!
Attendances for the other semi-final together came to 17564, which is at least 5000 less than we had last night..!!
However I do blame the January window to some extent, all 5 flopped when given their chance..
Rupp will be breathing easier this morning though..
Big changes to come re playing staff
Enjoy your summer y'all...

 

Without those loans next year they will struggle big time. It is them that got them to where they are and might come straight back down. However, despite being in massive debt, they could probably somehow find money to buy their way out of trouble.

 

His long ping passing has dropped off, infact its been pretty shite in recent months. I think he believes the Baldini hype, thinks he is Pirlo. He is a very frustrating player but we do seems to get better results with him in the side.

 

Struggling to see how its harder, when we have a years experience and a capable squad already built.

Leicester will probably walk it, but no different to Lincoln doing that this season. Sheff Wed are still unknown, and will need to build a whole new squad and Oxford arent somebody to fear.

Id say as a collective, Cardiff, Plymouth and Luton were just as strong as the 3 that came down this time. Plus one of Bolton and Stockport will be leaving us. Bar has been raised now, who wants to hang around safely in 14th/15th place and be happy with that?

 

You'd always look at the teams coming down, but what I think will make the division much tougher next season are the number of 'failed' teams from our division. Whilst we are all in agreement that we overachieved this season, given the resources they had available I think the likes of Luton, Plymouth and even Huddersfield will admit they've massively underachieved.
Not saying I'd be happy with a bottom half finish - far from it. Just think we have to be realistic in terms of our expectations.
Orient were in the play offs last season and very nearly went down!

 

The first 23 games of the season ran to 1st Jan - the start of the window. At that point, we averaged exactly 2 points per game, and we were 2nd in the league; 2 points off the top.

In the second half of the season we averaged 1.34 points per game and ranked 12th in the league table for the second half of the season.

Serious drop off from January - a huge opportunity missed. We just didn't get the window right, at all.

By contrast, Bolton's points per game is almost identical for the first and second half of the season; 37 points from the first half, 38 in the second. They've been consistent all season. And their MOTM last night was a January addition.

We just needed a couple of quality tweaks adding in January and instead we machine-gunned our way with what looked, and proved to be knee jerk late signings.

The club deserve huge credit for the season overall, and you can't deny that these lads have restored spirit and credibility. I just hope January is looked at properly, and learned from.

 

Absolutely that,the fans were immense tonight,noisiest they've been in a while

 

Since Jan 1st, this team have been 12th in the 2026 league table, which i think is about right for the squad we have on the books after the Jan window. Feels like we ended up with a "good on their day" team who play in moments but cant have consistent good play like we did in the first half of the season, especially going so long ball to slow/smaller forwards. We need to go back to what worked if we want to challenge again, if we stick with this aimless pings down the channels approach then it's mid-table at best i reckon, aligning with how we've played in the past 5 months.

I'm not sure on next season. It depends on how much Sheff are going to throw at it, Leicester City should walk the league, Huddersfield are going to have another top 4 budget, Luton too, one of Bolton or Stockport will be up there again, Plymouth too will challenge and then you have a few surprises every season like us and Stevenage. You'd think Wycombe might charge again, Oxford are an unknown.

 

I said it for months on end - we looked like a midtable team and we would probably limp into the play offs and it would end early due to quality of the teams in there.

Alarm bells for me were after that Northampton game. Plymouth was postponed and we had 2 weeks to get things right, regroup and up our game. That performance told me all I needed to know.

 

MK are going to throw millions at it

 

Superb season, credit to the club and all involved.

 

While true, lets look at what we can do rather than worry about others. Plymouth and Luton for all their resource didnt get it right this term and they could easily suffer again next season. Their better players will be courted by others too after their failures of this season.

We have a midtable budget but its about working it smarter than harder. We had 6 January players (5 on loan and Evans) who didnt even make the squad last night. Sharpe said in January that we had invested and we were paying a good proportion of the wages....Ashby and White are rumoured to be on £10k a week, Mullin will be on a decent whack at Wrexham, cant imagine Oxford covered too much of Sibleys wage either. A horrible amount of resource going into them players - plus I bet we were still paying a decent amount for Byrne, Leigh and Cook.

We need quality, not quantity, the squad was bloated again....we need to be looking at players like Goodman and Ibbitson as 'fillers' next season instead of expensive loans and invest in that squad of 18 as a core.

 

Proud of the fans, manager and squad this season.

I thought we made recruiting mistakes in the Jan window. Just fan pleasing signing but the players were not good enough to kick us on.

In terms of last night we tried but Bolton just too good. Defenders class, wingers are dangerous. We urgently need a number 9 that we can count on to score a bag full next season. Jackson isn’t the answer. He can finish but I do question his overall workrate on and off the ball as a forward.

Next season is going to be a massive challenge- Leicester, Sheff Weds coming down Luton Plymouth Town will be better than you have one of Bolton or Stockport. So it’s vital we get the recruitment right.

The bar has been set now and we have to aim for the stars.

Credit to all City fans this season around the world - amazing! We go again next season!!

 

I think 10th and upwards represents another successful season. We probably just need to be careful that expectations aren't raised too much by this season and we don't get too frustrated if we aren't top 6 again early season.

 

Sorry but I don't see 10th as a success in any shape or form. 4th was a definitely a success. 10th is satisfactory at best. It may be realistic but its also tinpot mentality - celebrating midtable in L1.

We got momentum now and we need to be pushing for another stab at the play offs minimum, otherwise its decline.

 

A 10th place finish could easily represent a stab at the play offs. Our budget was around 11th highest this year from what I've read so I fail to see why finishing in or around that position is "tinpot thinking".

For me it's more about being realistic with the hope that we can once again exceed expectations but not getting overly dramatic if we fall short.

 

I haven’t seen a photo or replay since the live coverage - his arm was down, yes, but from memory his hand wasn’t flat; either his wrist was turned or palm open. I agree with @Kevin1954 - you see them given after reviews - obviously my C&A tinted specs would have given it.

 

We had a good first half of the season because we were an unknown quantity and our style of play focused on pressing high and creating mistakes

we've resorted to hoof ball in the second half of the season and irrespective of the results, its a poor watch.

It’s a massive summer. GA needs to identity a style of play, stick with it, and recruit accordingly. Failure in doing so will result in us finishing mid table next year at best. We had the added luxury of it being a poor season this year, we wont have that again this time round

 

I would like to compare our conversion rate from set pieces to other clubs. It’s seems to me that it’s an area that lets us down badly. I think in the main Power has been a good signing but why does he have t monopolise nearly everything