Blackpool v Leicester City pre-match comments....

Well it should be a full house tomorrow at Bloomers when my least favourite team turn up. Why do I not like them? I suppose I find their manager, fans and some of their players an arrogant lot. But I don't propose to predict the outcome. On paper both teams are on equal points and more of less mirror each other. But they seem to be going through a confident period, whereas we seem to be punching above our weight due to the fact we haven't had a settled team.

 

Gary Taylor Fletcher has just signed a one year contract with them and might end up playing against us tomorrow. I wish Gary all the best and thank him for his services over the last six years, but I hope he and his new team depart from Bloomers tomorrow pointless.

 

This will be me tomorrow night depending on the score...........

 

 

or if we lose it could be this...........

 

 

 

This could be the kiss of death.....

Now this could be the “kiss of death” for Paul Ince, on a par to him being awarded the “Manager of the Month”, but here goes.

 
I must admit he was never my first choice to replace Ollie, which was always going to be a hard act to follow as far as I was concerned. I was hoping we would get either Owen Coyle or Nigel Adkins, but looking at the latest league position I’m quite glad we didn’t get them. That said, I know it’s very early to get the automatic promotion banners out, because I remember this time last season when we were in a similar position. The difference this year is, I believe down to Ince Senior and his determination to make us defensively stronger. Admittedly we all loved the way Ollie got us to play in an attacking gung-ho style, which left the opposition bewildered and gave us a premiership start we could only have dreamed of, but which later became our undoing as teams started to stifle our way of playing. What we have now under Paul Ince/ Alex Rae/ Steve Thompson is a more sober style of play. OK, we’re not a free scoring team as we once were, but we’re certainly more solid. Of the six games so far, we’ve won five and drawn one, giving us a six goal advantage. I remember when Ollie was in charge how frustrated we got with his obsession for signing a glut of midfielders and strikers in preference to making us more solid at the back. With the exception of just a couple of players most of the previous defence have moved on, which for once has not had a detrimental effect on our performances so far.

 As most of us know being a Blackpool supporter is never easy and although we like to be optimistic there is always that nagging doubt in the back of our minds the bubble is bound to burst before long.  It’s also strange when things are going our way the chairman’s tightfistedness takes a back seat. We start to question whether our criticism of him is too harsh at times, but all it needs is a few defeats to reinforce our original thoughts about him. We know running the club is totally different to being a manager or a fan. You have to balance the books and these days run it more as a business rather than just as a football club. That said, it also important for a chairman to have the confidence to take the club forward quicker than presently shown. He needs to make sure he supports the management team so that the current momentum is not lost, something he failed to do in the past.

 
So, since taking over Paul Ince has managed to keep us in the championship, which at one time wasn’t guaranteed and since then has managed to takes us to the top of league unbeaten, even with only ten men in the last game. Let’s hope our form continues against Millwall tomorrow night and against the team I dislike more than PNE, Leicester City on Saturday. I know our unbeaten run will eventually come to an end, but in the meantime, WELL DONE PAUL INCE.

 

 

Off to a good start......

It's always good to get your first 3 points in the bag, especially when it's away from home. I know Doncaster came up from league one last season but this game could have gone either way. We started off ok, plenty of pressure and possession, got an early goal via a tap-in by Steve Davies and went in at half-time 1-0 up. Paul Dickov must have given his lads a talking to because they came out determined to change things. Disappointingly they equalised from a header straight from a corner. I say this because our defence has looked a lot more solid since Paul Ince/Alex Rae took over. I had a horrible thought Richie Wellens was going to be our nemesis again. But fortunately we ended up 3-1 winners in the end.

One thing which concerns me is Tom Ince's form since his dad took over. He seems to be trying too hard to impress his old man. I've noticed too he looks straight over at the bench if he's fluffed a chance, knowing his dad will give him what for. I know it's getting to Tom because of the way he's reacted when fans have said things to him. Instead of taking it on the chin he's reacted angrily to their comments, even though they've not been nasty comments. I also think he finds it awkward when his team mates think he has a say in team affairs, which I'm sure he doesn't.

 

Well, as per usual we went out of the League/Carling/Capital Card Cup in the first round last night, which is no great loss to me because it's a distraction we can do without. Unfortunately it was at the hands of that lot at the end of the M55. What made it worse was they are now managed by Simon "I can't get to Leeds Utd quick enough but Preston will do" Grayson. Used to have a lot time for this bloke but the way he left etc changed my mind. Still, league status has no relevance when it comes to results in cup competitions, more so in local derbies. We can't really complain because we dominated most of the play without causing them many problems. Again last night Tom's form was very poor, but so was Davies and Chopra's, the latter missing a sitter in the second half. Yet again our defence was unlocked late on by a set piece header, very disappointing. I do think Gilks should at least be coming out for some of the balls instead of staying on his line and relying on the defence to win the headers. But apart from that he had a good game. Young Robinson on loan from Liverpool started off well but seemed to get the jitters later on. But the defence look a lot more confident on the ball than Ollie's defensive line up ever were.

 

Next up is Barnsley managed by David Flitcroft, who if I remember rightly turned us over last season, so I'm taking nothing for granted. It'll be our first run out on the newly laid Bloomers pitch, just hope it lasts longer than the previous one, only winter will tell.

 

One thing which makes me laugh, is how betting seems to be taking over as though it was an acceptable way of life. We're constantly bombarded with bets for this, that and everything, including annoying bingo sites. Now I see it's the Skybet Championship. Two things I detest more than anything is betting of any description and Sky in all it's forms, the two together makes it even worse.

You can follow me on twitter.com Brian@truetangerine

End of my summer slumber.

Well another summer of sport makes way for the start of the footy season. I've enjoyed Andy Murray winning Wimbledon, with one day to go I was preparing to celebrate Lee Westwood winning this year's Open, but had to make do with Phil Mickelson taking the jug instead. Pity I couldn't watch the Lions win or England getting off to a good start with the Ashes, because of Sky pinching these from terrestrial TV.

So, with little or nothing happening down at Bloomers to report about apart from how the playing surface is growing, I found it difficult to put pen to paper, so to speak. Yes, I've visited the fan's websites, but to be quite honest all that happens there out of season is a bad case of in-fighting. Nobody seems to want to agree with one another, which usually leads to some of the keyboard warriors threatening to settle their differences "outside".

Anyway, here we are the day before the big kick-off. As I write the Dark Lord, Koko or whatever has agreed to 5 signings to date, which by his standards are par for the course. He always waits until the season starts before plunging any deeper into the transfer market. Yet again he promises to sign more players shortly, yawnnnnnnnnn, forgive me if I sound a bit sceptical, but hey, we go through this every year and it gets no better.

Well we're at Donny tomorrow, so how we go on is anybody's guess, but I won't be surprised if it ends in a 1-1 draw. Do I feel optimistic? It would be nice to say yes, but my pessimistic side says, no.

You see, this is what being a 'Pool fan does to you, you expect the worse and when it doesn't happen , a strange feeling starts to come over you, you start to think we might have finally turned the corner and the bookies might consider us as promotion candidates instead of Preston failures.

Anyway enough of my ramblings, here's hoping we get off to a good start and stuff that lot on Monday night in darkest Deepdale.

Signings? What signings.

Blackpool are on the verge of signing a number of quality players, some of which have premiership experience and who are delighted to be joining a club with first class facilities.

 

Yes, ok, that's the type of headline us seasiders fans would love to be reading, but as we know for that to happen it would take an enormous shift in policy from the man holding the purse-strings.

 

The chairman will be playing his own brand of poker when dealing with current/prospective player's ideas of what they're worth and more importantly what he is willing to pay. We've been down this path before and it always leads to a frustrating time. The manager becomes frustrated when the players he has persuaded to come decide not to when the chairman gets involved. The fans become more and more frustrated too, like me they usually bombard the Gazette, the fans websites and directly to the chairman himself. I know some fans from other clubs seem to admire the way KO runs the club and point out how well financially we are compared to other clubs. Yes, we know all that, but the financial position of the club was better secured when Ian Holloway got us in the premiership. I just think KO was very fortunate Ollie came along when he did.

 

The chairman has just gone on record and quoted as saying...........

 

“It’s been anything but quiet from our point of view when you consider the amount of time and effort we’ve spent speaking to players and agents,” he said.
“We’ve been assessing who we are going to target, and discounting the ones who have unrealistic aspirations.”
“Some of those may be unrealistic now, but as the summer goes on we may revisit them and see if their demands have fallen more in line with where the Championship is heading as a division.”

 

Well let's hope he doesn't leave it too late, otherwise we're going to have another unsettling season.

 

Palace v Watford.

Well at least we now know the play-off finalists. As you know I was dreading Leicester getting to the final and you know my prediction of a Brighton v Leicester final was way off line. That's why I don't gamble, my heart rules my head and as such I'd always be in debt to the bookie.

Pleased for Ollie though, he seems to have knack of getting to Wembley. But I do believe he wouldn't have achieved it with us this time. Towards the end of time with us I felt he had run out of ideas and enthusiasm for the club. Not really surprising having put up with the chairman for so long. I won't put the kybosh on him by predicting a Palace win, but I wish him all the best.

In a short time Wigan take on the mighty Arsenal at the Emirates and need a win to give them a fighting chance of staying up. Their last game is against Villa who are also fighting for their premiership lives. Martinez is the past master of pulling off the impossible and he will need all his guile and motivation to do it this time. Genuine nice guy and again I wish him all the best for tonight.

 

Follow me on twitter brian@truetangerine

Congrats to Wigan.....

It's good to see the underdog come through in one of the few competitions where this can happen. It's what dreams are made of. You don't get picked in the original line up and become the hero when you come on as sub to score a cracking winning goal. Well done Ben Watson. In a game that was tight you just knew one goal would decide it. Man City really didn't look like they had it in them to win it, but although Wigan had plenty of possession they seemed to take an age to move forward. At times understandably, they looked nervous when they had the ball and were guilty of taking an extra touch rather than hitting the ball earlier. McManaman was one of the main culprits for this, taking on Glichy too many times instead of moving quicker. But he was Wigan's most dangerous player and was named Man of the Match. It was good to see Dave Whelan's return to Wembley being a happier occasion than last time he was there as a player, when a broken leg ended his playing career. I'm also pleased for Roberto Martinez, a genuinely nice guy, to add ther FA Cup to his CV. Whether he stays next season or is enticed away only time will tell. But quite rightly he's concentrating on keeping Wigan in the premiership. Good luck to him.

The championship first leg play-offs are out the way with Leicester taking a 1-0 goal lead to Watford tomorrow, with  Palace and Brighton still with everything to play for at 0-0. Hope I'm wrong but I can see a Brighton v Leicester final. Just hope if that happens Brighton come out on top.

A season to forget, roll on next season....

Pleased this season's out the way. We ended with a 2-2 draw away at Bolton, which in the end was a bit disappointing considering we were 2-0 up and playing some lovely football. They got one back through Eagles and got their equaliser by way of a massive deflection. So we went in 2-2, like I said disappointing.

So now it's contract renewal time, with 37 players currently out of contract (not an ideal situation) it should be interesting to see who we retain and who are shown the door. According to Will Watt of the Gazette we'll have 14 players retained with a number of deals on the table for others. Rumour has it Ian Evatt might be released. I don't think his injury problems have helped his cause much.

This is the quietest end to a season we've known for a couple of years having been involved in play-offs previously. Although it'll be a hat-trick for Ollie with his Palace side making it, together with Brighton, Leicester (Ollie's bogey side) and Watford. I have a horrible feeling Leicester could just do it. Don't like them or their manager, but having scraped into the play-offs on Saturday at the expense of Bolton, they could end doing what we did when we got promoted. I think Zola's Watford have blown it and so could have Brighton despite having a decent run of late.

Bit of breaking news with the announcement of Fergie's retirement at ManU and with David Moyes being made his replacement. I bet Bill Kenwright and the Everton fans are gutted losing him after 11 years, but as we know anything can happen in football.

With Wolves sacking Dean Saunders and Kenny Jackett leaving Millwall, the close season should be an interesting time. As for me I'll be keeping myself busy building a brick garage after getting rid of an old asbestos and wood monstrosity.



Bolton v the Mighty Pool.....

 

 

Although I said the last game of the season against Bolton away is less important now that we've secured our championship place for next year. I still want us to go out in style and beat them, so that we finish above Burnley & Blackburn for obvious reasons. I personally have nothing against Bolton. In fact having worked there for over 9 years up to a couple of years ago, I have very happy memories of the place. But this is football and we all know there are no loyalties to any other team than your own. It should be a full house there, especially as they are going for a play-off place and there's a bit of past history between the two sets of fans. Still I hope it's a good entertaining game and of course we win.

 

 

Will Palace win tonight?.....

I see Palace are playing everyone's favourite thugs tonight, Millwall . I've mixed feelings about the outcome. I would like to see Ollie stay in the play-offs, but I've no great love for Palace. I thought Ollie was on a hiding to nothing going there especially after Freedman had them in automatic promotion place by the time he left. Palace's form of late has been inconsistent and I would think the fans there will turn against the manager if he fails to get them to the final. It was always going to be difficult for him to emulate what he did with Blackpool and honestly I don't think he will get them promotion.

 

All the same I wish him all the best, simply because of what he did for us.

Blackpool 2 Derby County 1

That result not only means we're safe from relegation but I can now stop being a miserable sod. My missus thinks I'm barking. She doesn't understand why I go around with my face down to the floor when we lose. When Tom Ince missed his penalty I nearly threw my computer on the floor even though we were 1-0 up. I just knew we couldn't to do it the easy way and when they equalised I was inconsolable. In a split second I had turned into Mr Hyde, I was cursing Burnley for going 2-0 up and for Rovers equalising against Palace and to top the lot, some idiot on ebay hadn't turned up to pay for some box hedging he'd won. So, the world and his mates had all turned against me. There I was thinking well a point might still be enough when I heard Ludo had scored another priceless goal with 2 minutes to go. All of sudden there was a sun in the sky, the clouds had disappeared and the ebay clown was less annoying (well all most). You see, being a Pool fan has never been easy, but being a Blackpool lad I can't support any other club. I'm just glad I can now enjoy my summer and the Bolton game has now lost it's importance. Well done Paul Ince, you've managed to keep us up and now you can start to put your own squad together.

 

Yesssssssssssssss..........

2 games to go....

Nearing the end of what could be described as a annus horribilis (sorry your majesty) for me and the 'Pool. We started off under Ollie as though we were champions elect, but gold dust quickly turned to sand. His initial impact started to wane,  mainly due I think to the fact he'd run out of ideas and enthusiasm. We were then put through an horrendous time with our chairman pursuing different bods to replace him. It seemed to go on and on and on, until finally he picked Michael Appleton, least I think he took him on as manager, because when I blinked he'd vanished, only to reappear at some chicken farm up th'road. Eventually King Karl settled for Paul Ince, who I must admit was low down on my preferred list of candidates. I was hoping for Nigel Adkin or Owen Coyle, but obviously KO's offer of employment was far less attractive than the dole.

So, on 18th February 2013, Incey started his reign. Since then his record is as follows:

 

Games played     Won      Drawn     Lost     Goals for      Goals against

         12                  3            6           3            7                  12

 

He was doing ok up until last week's 6-1 thrashing by Brighton, which turned our positive goal difference into  negative equity in one felled swoop. So, tomorrow we face Nigel Clough's Derby County who are as predictable as the weather. When we've wanted them to beat some of our rivals they've failed miserably, but when we played them earlier this season at their place (ironically Ollie was in charge) they beat us 4-1. So they are not my favourite team. We really need a least another 3 points to make us completely safe. I just hope we manage it tomorrow without relying on a win at Bolton on the last game of the season.                  

 



What's going on Oyston?....

So, we're nearly at the end of the transfer window and not only have we not signed anyone, but we also don't have a manager. Why am I not surprised? Easy, it's because we have Karl Oyston as our chairman who seems to think the football world moves at his pace. This guy started out as a farmer before succeeding his mother as chairman. So you would think a farmer would know something about groundwork, alas not this one. Unfortunately our pitch has been likened to a ploughed field, so I supposed he must know a bit about ploughing. If I was talking about another a club I would be laughing my socks off, but we're not. You see I have been supporting this club all my life, which is a very long time. So, when I see how he has dragged his feet over so many things related to my club it hurts.

 

There are so many former managers out of work and yet this guy can't decide who he wants. Obviously he wants someone in who won't cost him much and who is capable of being able to work with him (not easy at all). He took on Appleton who proved to be as mercenary as the best of them by doing the dirty on us and supposedly, according to him moving to a bigger club? What Blackburn Rovers, please. Then a clutch of managers most of us had never heard of turned us down one by one. Nigel Adkins was so impressed by Oyston's approach he b******* off on holiday. Nigel would have been a fantastic choice as would Owen Coyle, but as I write this no one is even near taking over.

 

So, my question is....What's going on Oyston? Either pull your finger out, otherwise we'll continue to slide down the league and we'll find ourselves in a relegation battle instead of a promotion push.

Which direction are we going?

I’ve not put pen to paper for a bit now, simply because I am totally confused with what’s been going on down at Bloomfield Rd this season.

Ollie goes after 3+ years, which is understandable. Then the chairman decides to go for Michael Appleton, who frankly managed a Portsmouth side going nowhere. This appointment was such a success he decided to jump ship the first chance he had after only 2 months in charge. Not only that, he decides to go to Venky Rovers, whose managerial appointments are worse than ours. So yet again we find ourselves managerless. Then Oyston decides to approach Phil Parkinson, currently at Bradford, who declines the offer of moving up a division. So next he goes for

Sean O’Driscoll, recently sacked from Nottn.Forest, who also declines the offer and opts for Bristol City instead, who are currently bottom of the championship. Now we hear Oyston has identified Peter Houston (Peter who??) as a possible choice. He is currently in charge of Dundee Utd, but after reading some of the fan websites the majority of fans up there aren’t bothered whether he leaves or not.

 So, how is this all going to end? Your guess is as good as mine. We’re fast becoming the laughing stock in the managerial stakes. Perhaps Oyston’s tight-fisted approach to everything he does has finally been acknowledged.

 Karl Oyston is the original “Marmite Boy”. He’s never going to be a pro-active football club chairman. Most fans distrust what the Oyston’s say because of all the false promises they have spouted over the years. Too many to mention in this small blog, but enough to fester in the minds of the most loyal of Pool fans.

 It’s sad to think that just recently we were experiencing the excitement of the premiership, which so nearly happened again last season. Yet here we are struggling to keep a mid-table championship position, managerless and in danger of possibly slipping closer to the drop zone than a play-off position.

Steve Thompson is again in temporary charge and will pick tomorrow’s cup-replay team to face Fulham. Unfortunately, the FA Cup has lost that special place for me. I would sooner we concentrate on improving our league position rather than having a cup run.

 

Up the mighty Pool, let’s keep the faith.