As a lifelong supporter of Blackpool Football Club I benefit from not owning tangerine-tinted spectacles, and am able to critique the squad's performances without resorting to unfounded hyperbole or ignoring what I regard as the reality. I understand that football in the main a game of opinions and is at times highly subjective, but there…
Neil Critchley needs numbers, experience, and quality for his new look Blackpool F.C. squad
Reboot 2.0 for Blackpool Football Club under the auspices of benevolent ownership was paused before it could gain traction, but 'new' head coach Neil Critchley is now beginning to stamp his identity on what is a squad brimming in creative intent but lacking in numbers. After wresting the reins from the ruinous stranglehold the Oyston…
Blackpool FC: Will Armand Gnanduillet prove to others what he believes himself?
The outpouring of grief from many fans of Blackpool Football Club on hearing that 2019/2020 season top scorer Armand Gnanduillet would be leaving the seaside is in many ways a symptom of an age increasingly obsessed with the here and now, with little interest beyond the superficial and in what lies beneath. Statistics can fail…
Have Blackpool Football Club actually benefited from an unprecedented churn of personnel during the January Transfer Window?
Whether or not the now former Blackpool F.C. manager Simon Grayson had remained in situ at Bloomfield Road his January transfer window business warrants critical scrutiny, from which it is arguable that the club have failed to secure the expected commensurate uplift from an unprecedented churn of 25 players. Many have suggested that Grayson should…
Blackpool Football Club experience a transfer window like no other
The bold claim from Blackpool F.C. manager Simon Grayson that his club could be the busiest in England during the current transfer window raised eyebrows, not in the least with supporters brought up on the slim mid-season pickings under the now deposed Oyston family, but also elicited no little scepticism as to whether the 50-year…
Lampard primed for Chelsea return, for whom Sarri remains the hardest word
The Roman Abramovich-era ha over the last fifteen years brought unimaginable success to Chelsea Football Club but with success comes expectation, impatience, and as demonstrated on innumerable occasions: the costliest of mistakes. A self-made, Russian oligarch who prospered during the aftermath of Soviet disintegration and the economic free-for-all under the disastrous Boris Yeltsin presidency, Abramovich,…
European Football Transfer Merry-Go-Round to experience a summer like no other
The future would appear to be now for a select coterie of elite footballers whose collective value arguable exceeds £1 billion. The current close season could be like no other in recent times, with seismic shifts in personnel more likely than not at many of Europe's perceived big hitters, some who've dropped far behind the…
Liverpool primed for further glory whilst Tottenham remain in a holding pattern
I was almost relieved by Divock Origi's decisive intervention in last night's Champions' League final. Played out by two under par sides who hardly stated a cast iron argument for the strength of the Premier League, I was at least grateful that such an occasion wasn't settled by Mo Salah's contentious first minute penalty, although…
Europa League: Sliding Doors final poses more questions than answers for both Chelsea and Arsenal
What was initially billed as the likely denouement to the contrasting Chelsea careers of Maurizio Sarri and talisman Eden Hazard has, following the West Londoners' second-half evisceration of Arsenal in last night's Europe League final, instead switched the focus to Unai Emery's underachievers and indeed the Spaniard's own future at the Emirates. The speculation over…
Chelsea FC should use transfer embargo to give youth a chance to shine
An outstanding season at newly promoted Aston Villa coupled with a two-window transfer ban for parent club Chelsea should this summer make Tammy Abraham master of his own destiny. Assuming Villa intend to bring in the 21-year old on a permanent basis will Abraham be tempted to showcase his talents at the top table for…
Bayern Munich face crucial summer of squad reconstruction
After rounding off a domestic double with a routine defeat of RB Leipzig Bayern Munich's dominance within Germany remains without question, as does the tangible lack of quality within the Bundesliga to mount a credible challenge to the Bavarian giant's hegemony. Being all-conquering does not necessarily equate to greatness, an epithet that could hardly be…
Manchester United: Breaking Up Such a Poor Squad Will be Hard to Do
It is not unreasonable to suggest that five years is a lifetime in football. Furthermore, when arguably out of his depth as manager of Cardiff City it would have seemed more than inconceivable for an Ole Gunnar Solskjaer team, half a decade later, being put to the sword on the last day of the Premier…
Liverpool and Manchester City throw down the gauntlet to the best of the rest
After narrowly negotiating two potential title-ending games against Burnley and Leicester City goal-shy Brighton and Hove Albion was in many ways the ideal final-day opponents for Manchester City, albeit at the Sussex side's Falmer headquarters, and so it proved. All Liverpool's fans, sympathizers, and those eager for a nerve-shredding end to a record breaking season…
Liverpool vs. Barcelona: A night where distinction dispatched presumption into obscurity
A few observations from last night's Champions' League tie between Liverpool and Barcelona: Liverpool have the strongest domestic squad in Europe, and in effect, the world. Barcelona were put to the sword without the absent Mohamed Salah, Roberto Firmino, Naby Keita, Adam Lallana, and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, whilst Divock Origi and Xherdan Shaqiri seamlessly stepped up…
In terms of investment and forward planning Liverpool have become everything Bayern Munich are now not
There should be little surprise attached to Liverpool's nonchalant brushing aside of Bayern Munich. For several seasons now the Bavarian's have been on the wane; their ageing squad and inattention to adequately replacing departed stars and those soon to retire has been masked by a marked deterioration of quality in the Bundesliga. Putting six past…
Marco Silva’s Everton continue to be less than the sum of their expensive parts
At the tender age of 41 Marco Silva stands at the very crossroads of his managerial career, as his latest struggles with Everton threaten to derail the Portuguese's time in the Premier League for already the third time. Both previous stints showed early promise and whilst set amid completely contrasting environments, Silva's stock initially rose…
Nathan Jones to rid Stoke City’s squad of its ‘final payday’ mentality
Far removed from his relative fastness at Kenilworth Road former Luton Town manager Nathan Jones has in the first few weeks of taking the Stoke City hotseat been left in no doubt of the enormity of the task ahead. Chastening home defeats to Shrewsbury, in the F A Cup, and Preston North End bookended a…
Chelsea pay the price for failing to adequately replace Diego Costa
To call Chelsea a club in crisis is akin to pandering to snowflake-generation hyperbole. To underscore the term 'crisis club' look no further than Blackpool, Bolton Wanderers, and Coventry City, not the faltering Roman revolution at Stamford Bridge. There is though a sense that the west Londoners are being left behind in the annual stampede…
How will the despotic leaders of Turkmenistan and North Korea react to chastening Asian Cup defeats?
It is not hard to imagine the reaction of Turkmenistan's and North Korea's presidents following the recent round of chastening defeats suffered by both nations at the Asian Cup, the geographical equivalent of football's European Championships. Despite an absence in either country of authentic soccer pedigree both sets of players will genuinely fear of the…
Blackpool F.C. avoid an onscreen banana skin but are far from where they should be
A lot has happened in the life of Blackpool Football Club since it last appeared live on BBC television. The tangerines' 3-0 defeat of now established Premier League side Southampton nearly seven years ago formed part of Ian Holloway's attempt to return to the top flight at the first time of asking, following an agonizing…
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