Let me be clear before the usual suspects start accusing me of towing the club line. I’m disappointed about losing the Bradford game to call-ups.
Emotionally, it was going to be huge for me. Not just for the obvious connections between the club, but because it would be a day after my Dad’s birthday, and my first away trip without him. He was a regular on Andy’s Bus, so I could quite easily be one of those outraged social media warriors talking about the postponement ruining my experience, etc.
But as you know, I’m not prone to hyperbole, and the truth is that a postponement works in our favour in terms of competition. Did we expect to be where we are going into the international break? No. Did we expect them to be where they are? No. The position between the clubs would make it a massive day for supporters with a superb atmosphere, but here’s the thing – it’s not all about us.
ℹ️ City’s trip to Bradford City on Saturday 11 October has been postponed due to international call-ups for the Imps.
— Lincoln City FC 🇺🇦 (@LincolnCity_FC) October 1, 2025
I’m sorry, but it’s not. Yeah, we’re the lifeblood of the club, and we’ll be a consideration in many decisions, but ultimately, what is the aim of the club? To reach the Championship, or to play one of our games on a Saturday in October, because maybe 750 fans could make it who can’t do a midweek fixture?
I always say football is about moments, and it is, but we’ve already had some great moments this season. We’ll have more, and if we get the right results and stay in touch with the top six, we’ll have some banging Saturday trips away. From a competitive point of view, there is a strong argument for postponing the game.
Firstly, anyone saying ‘but it’s just the subs’ lacks a thorough understanding of the modern game. Football isn’t 11 v 11 anymore, it’s a squad game, and any Saturday we can see 16 different players getting minutes. Dexter Lembikisia, sure, I’ll take that as a player not likely to have impacted the Bradford game, but Obikwu and Varafolomeev would. They’d both come on, 100%. Obikwu’s involvement against Luton turned a point into three. His late cameo against Peterborough saw us go from a nervy 2-0 ‘dangerous’ scoreline to a comfortable 3-0 win.
For the record, Reeco Hackett shouldn’t be called up by St Lucia because, as things stand, they don’t have fixtures planned. I’m not aware of a training camp, but if he were called up, that would be another serious first-team player lost.
In all the games we’ve drawn this season, we’ve conceded second-half goals. In two of those games, Bolton and Mansfield, we didn’t have the squad depth we have now. Would we have drawn those games had we been able to get fresher legs up top, or extra energy in midfield? Might we have had four more points and been top of the table? Were it not for the ‘finishers’ as Michael calls them, would we have held on against Burton and beaten Luton? Without them, could we be four points worse off, and ‘languishing’ in seventh?
It can’t be agreed definitively.
Then there is the McGrandles conundrum. He is on four bookings. One more, and he is suspended. What if he gets that this weekend against Exeter City, a game that saw six bookings in March? He was also booked against Exeter away last season. A repeat of that, and he would be suspended, and if we were going to Bradford, we’d be without Varfolomeev as well. We’d be going into that huge clash with Bradford City without two of our holding midfielders. I know doubters will point to squad depth and suddenly use it as a stick to beat the club (oddly), but why would we risk it when we don’t have to?
This decision isn’t about squad fitness. It isn’t about robbing supporters or the club having prior knowledge and flogging tickets anyway. Why would they want to do all that extra work? Tickets for the game went on sale September 22nd. McGrandles didn’t pick up that booking until five days later, which has surely influenced the decision.
No, this is 100% a sporting advantage decision that has been taken, and while it might inconvenience a few fans, it is a small price to pay for us taking promotion as seriously as we can, down to the finest of margins.
It is a reasonable argument you make Gary but I suggest quite a weak one. Playing the game now would get the game out of the way at an early stage of the Season, against a team doing well, like ourselves I might add, and I would have thought would be a good thing. A question was asked at the Fans forum about this particular game, and at the time the general thinking was, that we would prefer to play the game on the Saturday. Now being a Tuesday, it will follow a Saturday when even more players for what ever reason may not be available. A break for various reasons unknown to ourselves may well be required. As for the McGrandles situation, it means now I believe, that if he were carded against Exeter it would now affect the home fixture against Stevenage, an equally difficult fixture, albeit at home. However, I trust the Club to make the right call, even if I am one of the supporters who will now not be attending the game on a Tuesday evening!