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.