2010-11 EPL Preview: Blackpool

The English Premier League (suck it, Barclays!) season is just around the corner, so we here at UF are giving you everything you need to know about all 20 teams with our award-winning analysis. And no, we haven’t really won any awards, but neither has Arsenal in five years, and people still seem to care about them.

Oh, I do like to be beside the seaside

Official Name: Blackpool F.C.

Nickname: The Seasiders, the Tangerines

Home Colors: Tangerine (never call it orange, although it was supposedly inspired by the Dutch and they are of course orange… I know, these things never make sense do they?) and white

Trophy Case: FA Cup in 1953. Football League Trophy in 2002 and 2004. Second Division Champion in 1930.

2009-10 League Finish: 6th in the Championship, promoted via playoff

2009-10 Average Home Attendance: 8,614

2009-10 Cup Finish: Third round of the FA Cup. Third round of the League Cup.

HISTORY:
Blackpool’s history is quite potted, which makes their first foray into the Premiership such a huge accomplishment.

The Seasiders have not been in England’s top division since 1972, where they spent a single season and then promptly sank all the way down to the fourth division. The team’s nadir came in 1983, when Blackpool finished 21st in the old Fourth Division, yet somehow avoided relegation out of league football. Blackpool eventually went up to second division (now the Championship) in the early 90s.

During that period, Blackpool was amazingly the early managerial home to both Sam “the Walrus” Allardyce and Gary Megson, although maybe not all that amazing when you consider that there simply aren’t all that many dire clubs that haven’t been managed by those two.

Things at Blackpool were such that in 1996, the club’s chairman Owen Oyston was sentenced to six years in prison for raping a 16-year-old girl (he only served three years). Eventually, Steve McMahon took over in 2000, only to see Blackpool relegated down to League One. McMahon guided the team back up to the Championship the following season, however, and in 2006 Latvian businessman Valeria Belokon began investing in the club (he currently owns 20% of Blackpool and is the team’s president).

Ian Holloway was hired in 2009 and, thanks to a substantial transfer budget from Belokon, the team managed promotion to the Prem thanks to a playoff victory over Cardiff City. The promotion was all the more surreal given that Blackpool had one of the smallest wage budgets in the Championship last season.

TEAM LEGENDS:
Most of Blackpool’s legends played during the pre-World War II era and into the 1950s. Read here at the club’s official site for more history than you probably ever wanted to know. Some highlights…

Sir Stanley

Sir Stanley Matthews: To this day, Matthews is the only English footballer to have been knighted while still playing. As a forward for Stoke City, Matthews became a huge draw at the outbreak of World War II, although he would leave professional football behind for a few years while serving with the RAF. While stationed in Blackpool, Matthews nonetheless played for Blackpool FC and apparently developed a fondness for the seaside club, and asked to be transferred.

At 32 years of age in 1947, Matthews would go on to play for Blackpool until 1961, a span that included Blackpool’s one and only FA Cup trophy (dubbed “the Matthews Final”).

Matthews’ legacy is perhaps greatest as the English player who spanned into the modern game. Quoth Brian Clough: I grew up in an era when he was a god to those of us who aspired to play the game.”

Jimmy Hampson

Jimmy Armfield
Still Blackpool’s all-time leading scorer, with 248 goals in 361 matches from 1927 to 1938. Hampson’s life was cut short at only 31 years of age when he was lost at sea while fishing.

Widely considered one of the best fullbacks of his era, being capable of making the kind of overlapping runs that we take for granted today, Armfield was a stalwart for both Blackpool and England during the 1950s and 60s and captained England 15 times, but famously wasn’t on the pitch during the 1966 final so didn’t receive a medal. Thankfully, a bit of revisionist “participant” history rectified that recently.

Perhaps no player better epitomizes Blackpool.  Armfield spent his entire career with Blackpool from 1954 to 1971, having captained the club for the better part of a decade.  After his playing career ended, Amfield went on to manage SF Bolton and Dirty Leeds (hey nobody’s perfect), and today makes his living as a BBC pundit.

Jimmy Armfield

GAFFER:
No matter what happens this upcoming season, after gaining promotion to the Prem, the name Ian Holloway will forever be etched into the walls of Blackpool greatness.

After a long playing career, Holloway bounced around managerial spots with Bristol, QPR, and the Plymouth Scum. In 2008-09, Holloway managed Leicester to relegation to League One, which of course is the ideal preparation to take a club from the Championship to the Premiership. And that’s exactly what Blackpool accomplished.

BEST XI:
Note: we do not have crystal balls — easy now! — so this is simply who we think are the best eleven players available for the opening match.

Gilks
Eardley, Baptiste, Evatt, Crainey
Southern, Vaughan, Adam, Taylor-Fletcher
Ormerod, [would be Clarke but he's out for the season - new signing goes here]

TRANSFERS IN:
None yet, but Holloway is supposedly looking to strengthen the squad. He desperately needs to, given that Blackpool only have around 18-20 first team players. However, Blackpool have already struck out on moves for strikers DJ Campbell (Leicester) and Jon Stead (Ipswich). The latest name being bandied about is Liverpool’s Nabil El-Zhar on loan. Rob Hulse, Sylvan Ebanks-Blake and the USA’s Michael Bradley are others who have been mooted. There’s even word that Blackpool might be looking at Nicky Butt. Yup.

TRANSFERS OUT:
Blackpool released a bunch of fringe players on frees at the end of last season (including Daniel Nardiello, who is going to tear up League One for my beloved Exeter). Otherwise, the biggest subtraction for Blackpool was the ending of loans for DJ Campbell, Barry Bannan, Seamus Coleman and Stephen Dobbie, all of whom were important first-team contributors to Blackpool’s promotion last season.

KEY PLAYERS:
Meh… Difficult to pick out even one, isn’t there? Charlie Adam and Brett Ormerod were Blackpool’s leading scorers last season, so maybe one of them? I dunno. How about whoever retrieves the ball out of the team’s net each time they give up a goal?

RISING STARS:
Hahahaha. Look away, look away.

Bloomfield Road

STADIUM:
Now with four, yes, FOUR stands. Well, almost.  Unfortunately the stands won’t be ready in time for the first game of the season, so Blackpool will travel to the DW Stadium and face Wigan away instead. Personally, I can’t wait for the first TV broadcast from Bloomfield Road. I figure it will seem like an FA Cup match.

DRAMA:
Despite the joy of promotion, there has been a black cloud over Blackpool this presason. Lots of injuries and losses to lower-league competition. There is a feeling around the Seasiders that they may well and truly be out of their depth. It will be interesting to see if Holloway can convince the players that they have nothing to lose by going out and giving it a go.

TACTICS!:
To their credit, Blackpool did not play completely negative football last season. It will be very interesting to see if they try to go out and play in the Prem next season against much better competition. Burnley tried it last year and, up until Owen Coyle left, weren’t totally out of their depth. Not sure the same will be true here, so I expect lots of parking of the proverbial bus. I mean, just a hunch.

QUESTION MARKS:
Will Holloway make any signings before the season starts? And how terrible will Blackpool really be?

IMPORTANT FIXTURES:
9/29 – Fulham (home) – the first proper home game at Bloomfield Road
9/11 – Newcastle (away) – will there be a gulf in class between these two promoted teams?
9/19 – Chelsea (away) – facing the champs at home
And by around this part of the season Blackpool will be 20 out of 20 points into the relegation zone… The rest is all downhill from there.

PREDICTION:
Oh they are definitely getting relegated, at least as evidenced by the poor track record of playoff-promoted teams in the Prem. The question is how bad will Blackpool be.  Will they be Derby 2008 bad? Or will Blackpool at least make it a respectable showing.  My money is on Hindenburg-esque failure, although I do hope that the ride is fun while it lasts!