Defeat at home to Rochdale on Saturday left Blackpool FC without a win in seven months and, alarmingly, there have only been seven wins in twenty-one months for the Seasiders. Under new management and with a group of inexperienced players these are testing times at Bloomfield Road. As the team look to establish themselves in League One, the heady days of the Premier League seem light years away. Yet we forget that it was as recently as 2010-11. Ian Holloway was a motivational manager and players of the quality of Charlie Adam, Gary Taylor-Fletcher and David Vaughan were at the heart of victories that included Liverpool home and away, Newcastle United and Tottenham Hotspur.
Tense Times at Blackpool FC
Adam left for Liverpool soon after the drop to the Championship in summer 2011 and Holloway to Crystal Palace towards the end of 2012 after almost guiding Blackpool back into the Premier League. Since his departure, six more managers have been present through an often troubled period. Two weeks before the start of the 2014-15 season, there were not enough players on the books to make a team. The season ended in relegation and it was an ignominious conclusion as the home match against Huddersfield was ended soon after half term following a pre-match demonstration involving a couple of thousand supporters and, more significantly, an on-pitch protest during the game. The targets were the owners of the club, the Oyston family, and their perceived lack of investment in the playing squad. A series of protests have characterised an unsettled period with tennis balls and tangerines thrown against Burnley and fireworks and eggs against Reading. Blackpool were relegated from the championship in 2015 with six games remaining and a final total of just 26 points. New manager, Neil McDonald, has taken on the mantle of finding a competitive squad and returning respect to a club that once boasted players of the quality of Sir Stanley Matthews, Stan Mortenson and Jimmy Armfield. It will be no easy task for Sam Allardyce’s former number two at West Ham United.
The season started promisingly with an away point at Colchester United. However successive defeats have followed; a 3-0 loss at League Two Northampton Town in the Capital One Cup and a 2-0 home defeat to Rochdale, five years after the Seasiders were at the top of the Premier League following a 4-0 win in their opening game at Wigan Athletic! To compound the issues, near neighbours Fleetwood Town are above them in the table for the first time in their history. The ‘pub team down the road’, as some Blackpool supporters have called them, have demonstrated ambition and progress on and off the pitch under Chairman and Blackpool supporter, Andy Pilley.
McDonald’s preparation has not been helped by Chairman Karl Oyston being banned from football activity for six weeks for misconduct, a ban which ends on August 18th. The next game shows no sign of easing the problems with last season’s League Two champions, Burton Albion, visiting Bloomfield Road on Tuesday evening. Have Blackpool got what it takes to turn over Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink’s team? I am making my first visit to watch them since Championship days and will report back on progress.
