The Voice - Match preview #42: Swindon Town vs Bradford City Saturday 12th April 2025 12:30pm

Sounds like there’s still illness in the camp. From todays T&A:

CITY are keeping fingers crossed that a day off will help to shift the illness still lingering in the squad.

Aden Baldwin and George Lapslie did not train yesterday after missing the Swindon defeat suffering from the bug that has hit the dressing room.

And Graham Alexander confirmed that another player who did feature at the weekend was also absent.

The City boss is hoping for more positive news closer to Thursday’s huge home clash with Notts County – but insists that they have the depth to cope.

“We’ll be ready to compete on Thursday but, honestly, I don’t know what the personnel will be,” he said.

“We tried to keep yesterday to a minimum of what was required.

“The boys are away today so they won’t be around each other. It’s only matchday minus one when they’ll be back together again.

“Fingers crossed, we’ve kept it to a minimum and hopefully we’ll get one or two back as well.”

It’s another issue for the Bantams who will be without skipper Richie Smallwood for the first of his three-game ban.

But Alexander is confident that his team can ride the blows as they have done throughout the season.

“We’ve tried to be adaptable from day one and take on board what comes our way and find solutions to those problems.

“We’ve got a proactive mind of being ready for anything we face and produce a team that can win games.

“We’ve done that more often than not this season and hopefully we’ll continue to do that.


“The idea of this team was borne out of the worst month I’ve had at Bradford. It was basically from the gutter because March 2024 was really tough.

“We’ve built from there and built a strength of character and personality, understanding challenges and taking them on the chin.

“We’ve not been victims but gone into the next game with full commitment and that’s what we will keep doing.

“The players have shown that spirit. Whoever’s been out there, they’ve always been ready to compete.

“I’ve never looked at my team and felt that they’ve not competed.

“We’ve had little spells of 15-20 minutes here and there but never had a game when we’ve completely let ourselves down in my opinion.

“That’s why I’m confident that we will have the season that we’ve set out to achieve.”

 

Watch out now here comes the ref’s representative, no bad mouthing the ref, he has a lot on his shoulders.

 

Or just act like a child and whinge about every single decision that doesn't go the way we want.

 

Goodness me, we do seem to have some bad luck this year....... what's next a swarm of Locust's at the training ground....

 

I think I am fairly balanced on my appraisal of refs. However, you are like the Ref’s prefect jumping in and insulting posters who might have an alternative view of the refs performance.

 

Balanced? Every single decision that goes against us is wrong.

 

Absolute nonsense but whatever.
Referring decisions have been debated by football fans since the game was invented, it's part and parcel of the experience of watching your team play and is one of the many reasons why we love the game so much. If you think we should all just put up and shut up then football might not be the sport for you.

 

I said I was balanced in my views, I am not responsible for the entire City Fan base. For what it is worth posters on here in my view are balanced in their views. No they don’t always fit into your rose tinted glasses on the plight of the downtrodden refs. They can console themselves with their fat pay packets, knowing full well the exit door is firmly shut.

 

Refs, bless 'em, seem to see things that no one else in the crowd does then next minute fail to see the bleedin' obvious......

 

Yes. Some posters are balanced. I just can't get on board with the perspective that all decisions against us are wrong. I could literally trawl through every single red card, penalty, offside decision from the last God knows how many seasons on here and there are posters who refuse to accept any decision that goes against us. I suppose it's part and parcel of being partisan.

 

We can all sometimes be guilty of looking at things through rose tinted specs, but most posters on here agreed that the Smallwood red was justified. The frustration is that on Saturday there was a few instances where a red could easily have been dished out the other way but that didn't happen. The shoulder barge on Shepherd from behind off the ball, and the openly taunting him in his face after the og should not go unpunished but thats the way it goes sometimes.

 

Nobody is asking you to get onboard, but decisions that the ref makes have outcomes. Do not expect posters to agree with your view, but those posters who disagree with you are perfectly entitled to their view.

 

I never said they aren't. I think a lot of the views are wildly affected by bias. I'm entitled to that view. It's the same reason the same people complain about referees since time began and they'll continue to complain about refs until their final post.

 

You have lost me now. What do you mean the same people?

 

People who complain about the 'standard of refereeing' and believe we generally get a raw deal.

 

But if that is their view, then they are entitled to it whether you agree or not, without you undermining that view by telling them they are biased?

 

Why am I not allowed to say I think they are biased? Is that really that offensive? It's not a huge surprise that some fans on a message board might be bias.

 

Maybe, but then your view could be biased as well. Maybe you are a referee, or been one in the past. You may have friends who are professional referees etc etc., Does that make your contribution null and void, no but it certainly puts your view into perspective.

 

Salford at home lets just hope that raw deal doesnt come back to haunt us

 

That's fair enough. You think I'm bias. I'm happy with my judgement. I think referees make mistakes all the time but having seen referees make the same mistakes for 30 odd years I don't think they can do any better. The standard will never improve. I do put myself in their shoes and I'm fairly confident that nobody on here could do a better job.