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.



The new reign has started......

A new managerial era has started here at Bloomfield Rd with the appointment of Michael Appleton as the new man in charge. He’s quickly brought in Ashley Westwood as his first team coach, with the purpose of getting the players fitter and improving our defence. Some fans are getting a bit irate about Westwood coming in and taking over Steve Thompson’s role. Well I would have thought that’s for the manager to decide and no one else. When a new bloke takes over they always bring in their own staff, why should it be any different here. For me Thommo has had his chance and although officially he is still classed as assistant manager I think his influence will start to disappear once Appy moulds the team more to his liking.

Appy has already identified areas for improvement including fitness levels and our defensive failings. It seems under Ollie, especially when it appeared he was losing interest, fitness levels and training weren’t as good as they should have been. These contributed to why the team were conceding late goals and matches in recent months. Most of us have been screaming long enough for someone to come in and improve the defence, because under Ollie/Thommo this was an area that suffered and consequently contributed to us losing our premiership status. Yes, Ollie brought us exciting, roller-coasting type of football, which for the neutrals was great to watch. But for us who travelled around the country it was also extremely frustrating watching us throw away games because we couldn’t defend to save our lives. Even this season we have lost games to teams, which we would have steamrollered earlier.

So, since Ollie left, we lost to Derby Co, away 4-1 (absolute nightmare) we have beaten Sheffield Wed away 2-0 (incidently when Thommo was in charge) and drew last Saturday 2-2 at home against Bolton (first game Appy in charge.) The good thing about the Bolton game was we came back twice from being behind, but really a draw at home is 2 points dropped. Again this was a problem in our premiership days too.

Appy is determined to trim the squad down from the current 45 players on the books. This was another problem caused by the chairman not negotiating deals with players Ollie had identified as his first choices. So instead of signing one quality player, we ended up with signing three cheaper but poorer options instead. Hence, a top heavy squad of players who will never get a game, because they don’t possess the quality that’s needed.

Next game is away against a struggling Bristol City. This will give us a good idea of whether the improvement has already started, because I would guarantee we would lose this game if Ollie was still in charge. Why? Because our confidence had gone along with the enthusiasm Ollie once had for the club. That’s why it’s more important than anything we get behind the new man and his staff and create the 12^th man again.

Our talisman has left the building.....

 

The man who did the impossible by getting us in and nearly keeping us in the premiership has gone. Us Pool fans are suffering a mixture of emotions at the moment. The majority of us loved the guy. He brought a brand new exciting style of football which made people worldwide take notice of Blackpool FC. Unfortunately towards the end of his 3 years with us you could see that enthusiasm he created within the club and fans was no longer there. His constant battles with the chairman finally wore him down and that takes some doing with an optimist like Ollie. Yes, I firmly put the blame totally at the door of the chairman. Time and time again, Ollie worked hard to put together names of players he wanted to sign to make us a consistent, potent force, only for the chairman to scupper the negotiations. We then ended up with players even Ollie couldn’t do anything with and so now we’re struggling to maintain a mid-table championship place. Saturday’s demoralising 4-1 defeat by a very ordinary Derby County side proved how far we’ve dropped since the start of the season.

I wish Ollie all the very best because he did as much as he possibly could to improve Blackpool FC and for that I will always be eternally grateful.

I would like to see Owen Coyle take over as the new manager, because he is a born winner. I know Steve Thompson wants the job, but I feel he will not be able to get the best out of the current players or the experience to attract the type of player we need. I also feel he hasn’t the strength to take on the chairman.

Watch out for the next thrilling episode of who takes over from our departed talisman…….

Everything 'cept our just desserts.

That was one game that got away. How we didn’t grab all three points against Brighton I’ll never know, but how many times do you see a side dominate a game and yet not get what they deserved. This was a better all-round performance by the Pool, with everyone playing their part. What a pity a silly defensive mix-up nearly cost us the game. I thought Broadfoot had a good game and perhaps was unlucky his backward header lacked the power to get back to Gilks. But even so, I thought Gilks should have taken more responsibility and grabbed the ball quicker because he was in a better position to deal with it. Watching the ball trickle over the line was sickening, so it doesn’t matter what a manager does he has no control over situations like this. The crowd played their part because they could see the effort the players were putting in and when Grandin score a deserved equaliser you could feel the tension in the ground lift. But despite all our dominance we still couldn’t put the game away. Shame really, but at least we’re starting to put some good football together again, which is encouraging. The next two games against Derby Co and Sheff. Wed are both away, should make interesting viewing. Both opponents will prove whether or not our current improvement will continue. Just wish we had Kevin Phillips back to his old scoring ways, because I don't think Nathan Delfouneso is the answer to our goal drought.