The Voice - Match preview #24: Blackpool vs Bradford City Sunday 4th January 2026 3:00pm

Barnsley away Hopkin decided to change it and probably changed the direction we where heading
Never understood it and never will do ..........in great form only losing to Sunderland and then he reverted us back to the system that never worked from the start

 

And the Sunderland game was a bit of a false loss because Jack Payne scored - but it was ruled out for not crossing the line when it did.

 

Yes, complete mystery that one and so costly
He had us playing reasonably well for those few games

 

Was that the one where caddis was moved from right back to midfield and paudie was full back and the Barnsley winger had him on toast

 

The ball getting past the first man from a corner is a big plus. Smallwood had an uncanny knack of hitting the first man.

 

Them games before we never looked like a team that was going down .............had we gone to Bsrnsley and played the same way and still got hammered i think the majority would have still been happy but to change it fook me ..............i remember RadioLeeds pulling him up on it and him trying to bullshit his way through ............dont get me wrong there was still plenty of games to get us out of it but that to me was a killer snd we never really recovered.


Whats the old saying
If it aint broken dont fix it

I know folk have had issues with GAs tactics and set ups but i doubt he has ever come close to what Hopkins did from that afternoon at Oakwell onwards

 

Or swinging it straight out of play

 

Paudie was tortured, yep. We got absolutely battered and it took hours to get out of the away car park after. Put me off going to away days for years did that game ha ha!

 

I believe so
Totally took the wind out of the sails and the rest is history

 

Yup. I went to that game. It was a complete mystery why Hopkin buggered up the system so horrendously. We had been playing brilliantly before that. The away win at Rochdale (I think) on New Year’s Day was like watching Brazil. We never recovered from the disastrous tinkering.

 

I remember that Rochdale game well. Didn't realise at the time that it would be the best performance we would see for the next 5 years.

 

The view of Powers corners at Blackpool , from behind, really surprised me . The bend and curve towards the goal line was best I’ve seen by a City player for a long long time .

 

We went too. I sat next to @Bronco who was with his grandson. @Rogered Tart was in the row in front. City were a complete shambles.

 

Just a tad better than Smallwood’s then?

 

That’s a huge understatement . He couldn’t deliver an Amazon parcel to the right county

 

It was so good. Coming away from that game I thought we were going to rip the division a new one in the second half of the season. The way we collapsed instead was horrendous.

 

I remember it well, I remember you asking "are you Bronco from the forum" then we met up again when I went on the Shippers coach to Morecombe and @Offcomedun went that day I believe it was the game Donaldson got injured ?.