Category: Blackpool FC

Last day excitement at Bolton

We secured our place in the Championship next season last week with a good win over Derby. One again Ludo Sylvestre scored a great goal and has been one of the reasons we have maintained our status in the league. Hopefully he will be here next season with him out of contract in the summer.

However, Saturday’s match will still have some meaning to it. Bolton are currently occupying the last play-off spot with Leicester and Nottingham Forest within range in positions 7 and 8.

One ear will be on the events at the King Power Stadium where Leicester take on ……. Nottingham Forest. It’s possible that Palace could drop out.  Forest would need to win, we would need to lose to Bolton and Palace would need to lose to Peterborough at home who are still not safe from the drop.

It’s all one of the reasons why the Championship continues to be one of the best leagues for entertainment.

As such it means that many of the games this weekend still have bets on, other leagues will see no betting on matches where there is little to play for.  If you are thinking about having a bet on this weeks match, check Luxbet as they seem to have some of the best odds at the moment.

It should be a good game this weekend, with nearly a full house at the Reebok!

New Kit!

With one game remaining and our place in the Championship secure it’s time to start to look forward to next season. There’ll be plenty of ins and outs, those who will be here next year will be wearing this nifty new kit.

The new kit by Errea, but will Tom Ince and Matty Phillips will get to wear it?

Another big weekend in the Championship Relegation battle

After a credible draw last week against Nottingham Forest a gap started to appear at the bottom of the table. However a midweek win for Sheffield Wednesday against Millwall, and Barnsley grabbing a very late point at Cardiff things have tightened up again at the bottom of the table.

With our 51 points we are still 3 places above the relegation zone where Blackburn have 47 points in the last relegation spot. Rovers are the only team around the foot of the table with a game in hand, but have the worst form in the league with no wins in the last 11 Championship games.

With more revelations this week about finances / internal power struggle at the club Rovers are in free fall and favorites to drop a division again.

However looking at the odds, some bookmakers don’t have Rovers as odds on to go down, currently Bristol, Peterborough and Huddersfield (one place above Rovers) are odds on for the drop. If you fancy a bet see freebets for a guide on using Coral’s online services.

This weekend it’s another big fixture list, 7 games involve teams in and around the relegation zone.

Sheffield have a trip to manager-less Leeds which kicks off ahead of the rest of the games at 12:30. Barnsley face Charlton at home, Barnsley along with Wolves are the form sides at the bottom. Wolves face Peterborough away.

Bristol City could be pretty much down and out this weekend if they lose to Watford. They are now 7 points adrift of Peterborough and 8 from safety, there would be 12 points left to play for after this weekends match.

We have a big Lancashire derby against Burnley at home who’s season is pretty much over being 8 points from the play-offs.

Amazingly, but somewhat unsurprisingly for the Championship a win for us this weekend could propel us to 54 points and 10th in the league if results went for us. There are 9 teams within three points of each other.

A big weekend

Two huge games this weekend which could either help us pull away from the relegation scrap, or put us right in the middle. Currently we sit in 17th place on 46 points, only 4 points above Peterborough who occupy the last relegation spot.

First up this afternoon is the Lancashire derby against Chicken FC who are also in the thick of the relegation battle. Onto their 4th manager of the season after the departure of Michael Appleton they have the squad win the remaining games but have relied on their home form too much this season. They are one place below on the same points, but with one game in hand due to their FA Cup run. Their run in isn’t too bad with them only having to play Cardiff and Palace, the rest of their fixtures are against fellow relegation threatened sides.

Checking the odds at TFBets Blackburn are favourites for today’s game but have a long injury list at the moment, including DJ Campbell who won’t be returning to face us due to an ankle injury.

Then on Monday we face Ian Holloway’s Crystal Palace. The meeting at Selhurst Park earlier this season had a little extra about it and we did well to grab a last minute point thanks to a strike from Dicko, how we could use him! I expect the reception to be good for Holloway, however once the game kicks off I’m sure he’ll start to get some stick.

The fixtures this weekend are pretty spread out, today only the Derby vs Bristol City match involves a team in the relegation battle. Bristol are rooted to the foot of the table and look to be odds on to go down at this stage. Tomorrow the big fixture is Sheffield V Barnsley who occupy the two spots above the relegation zone.

Two wins this weekend is a big ask. It would but us up to 52 points with 6 to go. No points could be disastrous, considering in the remaining six games we have to face Forrest, Burnley, Sheffield, Brighton, Derby and Bolton! Realistically a couple of points would be a good return from the Easter weekend fixtures.

Using the BBC Championship predictor I have us ending up on 52 points, however that target only being achieved on the penultimate fixture against Derby. Squeaky bum time as Fergy would say!

Three days to go – one in and still no manager

Saturday’s win over Wolves might have picked us up slightly but there’s a worrying deadline looming.

With no manager at the helm it seems that KO isn’t able to sort out any new players while at the same time making no progress with a manager. It appeared that we could have come out of the situation smelling of roses when Nigel Atkins became available however there’s been no news of talks.

It’s all gone a little quiet on the manager front. Player wise the only new face in is Matt Derbyshire who could make an impact upfront, however his hardly better than any of our current crop of strikers.

It looks like it’s all going to end up being a rush for the deadline on Thursday night with no manager in charge, all very worrying.

The only good point? Tom Ince and Matt Phillips are still with us!

New Blackpool Manager – Part 2

So we find ourselves looking for a new manager again, only a couple of months after Ollie left. The truth for Appleton leaving still isn’t clear, the extra money and contract length can’t have been the only reason for him leaving.

The team seems pretty much in freefall at the moment with the Cup game against Fulham a welcome rest on Tuesday night.

The hunt for a new manager started with Phil Parkinson turning down discussions, the Bradford boss has a League Cup semi final second leg match with Villa to look forward to. Paul Ince doesn’t look like a candidate, this time round as much as last time round. Also there seems little hope for Steve Thompson, if he was to become manager then he would have been confirmed by now?

Sean O’Driscoll was also in the frame until an offer came in from Bristol City, despite the club being in debt and sitting bottom of the league he jumped at the chance and was named manager at Ashton Gate this morning.

The front runner at the time of writing is Peter Houston the current Dundee United manager. His current contract runs out at the end of the season according to the press.

However, it’s only talks and he’s not heard the offer of a one-year-rolling contract which you feel is going to be the only option for any new manager at Blackpool. I can’t see anyone being in place for Tuesday night, things aren’t great at the moment!

Charlton 2 – 1 Blackpool FT With Pictures

So another post manager defeat. Yesterday at the Valley we had enough possession but once again lacked any killer edge, Charlton soaked up the pressure and just waited for the mistakes to be made.

Kevin Phillips again had to play up front somewhat on his own and had to kept on dropping deep to pick up the ball. Tom Ince was once again unable to get into the game.

We should have taken the lead from a Kevin Phillips header, one of very little clear cut chances.

As soon as the first goal went in it was pretty clear that we not getting anything out of the game.

One little positive from the match was Nathan Eccleston’s appearance and goal at the end, the lack of options upfront now seems to place him at the top of the pecking order for central striker role over Kevin Phillips.

It’s hard to see where we go from here. The cup in on Tuesday may be a welcome break. Let’s hope we have a manager and some new players soon!

Charlton 2 – 0 Blackpool HT

It seems that things are just getting worse.  Two nil down at half time, a lot of possesion but nothing to show for it.

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There’s little or no attacking side to our play and yet we’ve controlled the game and somehow given away two goals.

We need change but it’s too late for today.

Charlton v Blackpool

What a week its been.  After 65 days Michael Appleton left for Blackburn Rovers, its not clear if there was factors from our side to make him leave, the pitch, transfers and the relationship with Oyston all could have contributed.

Thoughts have to move away from those issues as there’s a game of football to be won today.

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We visit the capital for the second time in seven days after a good result and performance against Fulham.

After Ollie left we were a shambles against Derby, however it appears that on Thursday it was pretty clear that Appleton wouldn’t be in charge today giving Tommo a little more time to prepare.

Charlton had a great away result at Bloomfield Road this season and will be looking for the double.

Whatever happens win, lose, d own the booze up the pool !