It is not without irony that the author of the recently published book The Patron Saint of Second Chances is a Simon; Christine Simon, to be exact. Why the irony? Well, another Simon, Blackpool FC's owner and chairman, Simon Sadler, has just given the third manager of his four-year tenure at the club a second…
Opinion: Simon Sadler’s Unenviable Blackpool FC ‘to do’ list
A season that only ranks second in calamitousness to the Jose Riga/Lee Clark-debacle of 2014/2015, the mercifully soon to end current campaign has seen Blackpool lurch from one footballing disaster to the next. Why the season played out in such a way is one thing, how it can be expeditiously rectified is quite another. In…
Blackpool FC 2022/23 season: I’m Glad It’s All Over
Barring the type of mathematical quirk that would bring into question the integrity of the competition, Blackpool will start next season in the third tier of English football. It has been a long time coming and isn't a surprise, but to somehow drag out the agony until the last home game of the season seems…
Blackpool sink to depths that could have been avoided, but have stability that many in the Championship could only dream of
Viewed in isolation, Blackpool had to at the very least redeem themselves for the shameful surrender at Deepdale the previous week. It was all the more surprising that 11,500 home fans turned up for the visit of Cardiff, although many will now wonder when they will again see their team in the Championship. There is…
Last Chance Saloon for Blackpool’s Championship Season, but Why Has it Come to This?
Blackpool's trip to Swansea on Wednesday night was never going to end well. The die were cast when manager Mick McCarthy announced his preferred starting eleven to face Russell Martin's underperforming side, which was then compounded by Callum Connolly's first minute yellow card and second half sending off of Charlie Patino, setting a familiar tone…
Blackpool FC: My 2023 wish list
The following is written without much expectation that any of it will come to pass but for what it is worth, this is what I would like to see take place at Blackpool FC as I enter my fortieth year of watching the often not-so-mighty tangerines: Some humility from the club's owner Simon Sadler, the…
Wigan debacle brings Blackpool F.C. failings to a head
I have delayed this post for a few days after Blackpool's dispiriting reverse at Wigan Athletic not only to gather my thoughts away from the heat of the moment, but also to see if manager Michael Appleton would be relieved of his duties. One has taken place, the other has not. The DW Stadium debacle…
Blackpool FC stand on a precipice as injury crisis as inadequate replacement of star players starts to bite
The transfer window was a painful and protracted experience for Blackpool Football Club. Deals for players with whom they had been linked continually fell at the final hurdle or the mere rumours of certain tie ups alerted rival clubs, who invariably could offer more attractive terms and realistically a greater chance of playing in the…
League One play offs: Blackpool FC entertain the football world and quieten any of coach Critchley’s lingering critics
In my junior years, Lincoln biscuits represented a rare treat that to this day are sadly missed, both for their unique taste and ubiquity of availability. Putting aside the obvious but lazy dreaming spires and punting on the Isis(river) cliches, Oxford is brought to my mind for reasons of Robert Maxwell, the old Manor Ground,…
Play-off contenders or otherwise, perspective is needed by supporters of Blackpool Football Club
In the last of a series of articles reflecting on Neil Critchley's first full season that is now nicely coming to the boil, I ask myself: have I been too harsh on what Blackpool's head coach has sought to achieve, and how he has gone about it? Most would answer that question with a resounding…
Blackpool must seek solutions from within the January Transfer Window if end of season objectives are to be realized
If the recent League One form guide was anything to go by, Blackpool were firmly in the ascendancy after what must be said was an atrocious start to their 2020/21 campaign. A stop-start few weeks precipitated by Covid-related cancellations has though stalled momentum, with some of the issues which brought about such a dire first…
Blackpool FC remain a work in progress, but cautious optimism still couched with familiar failings
I previously called for Blackpool to start picking up points in games that mattered; in other words, against opposition already jostling for the top six positions or who are expected to do so. The last two games, both away from Bloomfield Road have provided some illumination to the development of the Tangerines under Head Coach…
Blackpool FC must now win games that matter, not just those it is routinely expected to do so
A return to league action for Blackpool after a 18 day absence precipitated by bringing forward the home game with Ipswich Town, a move which did not exactly reap dividends, will not only shake any complacency from the squad's collective system after routine cup victories against Eastbourne Borough and Leeds United's under 21's, but severely…
Calamity James fails to overshadow the many doubts surfacing from Critchley’s poor start to life at Blackpool FC.
It was tacitly assumed from our remote vantage points that the sending off of James Husband after 58 seconds would set the tone of last night's game at Bloomfield Road, as Blackpool took on Charlton Athletic. A backs to the wall rearguard action against presumably emboldened Addicks would surely only be a case of damage…
Blackpool Football Club: Head Coach Critchley must meld together his new squad with a League One-averse methodology
A raft of new signings prior to the slamming shut of the transfer window is not something that fans of Blackpool Football Club have become accustomed. Reared on slim pickings delivered by the previous regime more inclined to go on holiday or at least AWOL when vital squad strengthening was needed, an approach diametrically opposed…
Blackpool Football Club: Backed to the hilt Neil Critchley and the squad of his choosing must now deliver owner Sadler’s vision
Four competitive games into his managerial career at Blackpool Football Club Neil Critchley will have long since defined the very different world of the third-tier professional game from a starkly contrasting hothouse atmosphere within Liverpool's youth set up. The dramatic change from working on Merseyside for the best domestic team in world football to a…
Blackpool Football Club: Neil Critchley ruthlessly consigns Grayson era to history
The unexpected but game-changing onset of Covid-19 has made 2020 a year like no other. As schools cautiously head back into the unknown this autumn it feels as if we have already been through a year several times its normal length, with still a third of it to elapse. Events 'pre-pandemic', in other words before…
Blackpool Football Club: A likely league-wide salary cap sugar-coats departures of the waning and never-will-bes
Football squads being dismantled is nothing new. Often at the height of success all conquering teams are broken up, from a viewpoint that to remain successful standing still and waiting for rivals to catch up is not an option. Such pruning is though the preserve of a select few, and whilst there is logic behind…
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…
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…
Alpine Adventures, Soccer, Central Asian Autocracies & Secessionist Politics 