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.