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The Biggest Game Of My Life

Posted on May 21, 2010
Filed Under Blackpool FC | 1 Comment

So here we are, tomorrow will game will be my 42nd game of the season. It’s been on of the most exciting seasons to follow the pool. there’s been plenty of great results but for me six results stick out that define our season.

• Newcastle Home 2-1 Win – Proof and believe that we could play and win against the bigger boys.
• Shefflield United Home 3-0 Win – A team previous years would have rolled us over, we started the game with 5 players from the second string. Charlie and Vaughan came on in the second half to win us the game.
• Derby Away 2-0 Win – A classic away performance, one that would be repeated, also seeing Brett back to his best.
• Swansea Home 5-1 Win – Starting to hit form and scoring from all parts of the pitch
• Scunthorpe Away 4-2 Win – A steamroller of a performance including a brilliant cameo performance from David Vaughan.
• Nottingham Forest Away 4-3 Win – Well we all knew what that result mean, it was a statement of our ability, work rate and ability to get the tactics correct.

As ever it’s never simple for me, rushing off at 5 after work tonight back to Blackpool to see Pendulum, (booked around 6 months ago) up at five in the morning ready to set off down to Wembley.

I can’t wait, this has been pretty much the most unproductive work at week and home. Let’s hope it all goes to plan. Connection permitting I’ll blog live from the game before, half time and result depending at full time.

Come on the Pool!

Support from Ghana for Blackpool FC

Posted on May 13, 2010
Filed Under Blackpool FC | 5 Comments

As we know getting into the playoffs really increases the profile of the club, god knows what would happen if we actually managed to win.  This evening I received a kind of good luck message all the way from Ghana!

It’s from a village that’s helped out by a charity called Village By Village, who I’ve helped out with a new website build! Maybe, just maybe in a few years time the kids won’t need prompting who Blackpool FC are as we’ll be in the same breath as Chelsea, Arsenal or Manchester United!

Nottingham Forest 3 – 4 Blackpool (agg 4 – 6) Wembley here we come!

Posted on May 12, 2010
Filed Under Blackpool FC, DJ Campbell, Ian Holloway | 16 Comments

Tonight is one of those nights you’ll never forget. I’ve had plenty of them beating Preston 1-0 twice, a Golden goal by Bully at Huddersfield, 4-3 against Watford away, winning at Birmingham last year, Scunny away this year! but thats been topped by tonight’s 4-3 win at Forest securing a place at Wembley in the Championship Final. I’m pretty knackered but won’t be sleeping for a while as the adrenaline is still pumping around my body and I want to see the highlights on SSN.

We always knew that Forest were going to come at us, but we always knew that we were going to score goals, it was matter of scoring as many or more than the home side. What really proved its worth tonight was a little bit of experience being able to soak pressure and more importantly take our chances.

After Earnshaw slotted in the opener I was surprised that the home side didn’t push on, it might have been a little bit of in inexperience from their part or our middle three starting to get a hold on the game. Forrest didn’t really come out in the second half, DJ took his goal really well, there was the agonising second waiting for the ball to hit the back of the net.

Straight after that Gilk’s pulled off a great double save, at that point you just knew it was going to be our night. Dobbie’s goal came from a great little serge forward from Crainey and a lucky deflection. If that didn’t knock the stuffing out of Forest then DJ’s second  (which was the goal of the night) did end the tie.

His third looked offside but who cares! We now have a great day to look forward to, most importantly we have Charlie Adam without the worry of a yellow card and Cardiff / Leicester should be scared of us.

FInal note and picture has to go to this man, what a job he has done! He’s bursting with pride for his players, we the fans are bursting with pride for him.

Nottingham Forest 1 – 2 Blackpool Second Leg

Posted on May 11, 2010
Filed Under Blackpool FC | 2 Comments

So it’s about 3 hours until I set off and 6 and 45 mins hours till kick off of tonight second leg. It’s pretty much been a very unproductive day at work, just can’t wait for tonight’s match!

What ever the result tonight it’s been a great season, Come on the Pool!

Blackpool 2 – 1 Nottingham Forest – Half Time

Posted on May 8, 2010
Filed Under Blackpool FC, David Vaughan | Leave a Comment

Wow, what a game today and a great result. It was a really great game to watch with plenty of chances for both side and some great passages of play. A big shout out has to go out to David Vaughan who was outstanding today, not only holding onto the ball but defending too, his pressure on McKenna in the second half was awesome.

Our first goal was well crafted with a great run from Coleman, rather than shooting he found Evatt and with a bit of a scurfy deflected shot from Southern we were back on level terms. Cohen’s goal was a bit of a wonder goal, amazing that two in two games after the goal from Maynard.

The second half we were well on top and deserved the equaliser, we should have gone on to grab another one, hopefully something we won’t go onto regret. I can’t wait for the second leg now!

Blackpool v Nottingham Forest

Posted on May 8, 2010
Filed Under Blackpool FC, Ian Holloway | Leave a Comment

I don’t think I’ve been up earlier  on a match day, today started at 5:00am wake up call and a short drive to Bloomfield Road to queue up for an away leg ticket. After sitting in the car the queue started at 7:30am with the office opening earlier at 8:45, it took 2 mins to get the ticket after the 3 and half hour wait. Just need to get one more ticket which is looking unlikely, (if you have a ticket give us an email johnpcampbell1985 @ googlemail.com)

Sky were getting set up this morning ready for the match, the pitch had been cut and the sun is out at the moment all ready for a great day of football. Today is a big chance to give us a slight advantage going into the second leg. A draw today wouldn’t be a disaster but I feel that a one nil win would really bad for us, it would invite Forest to have a real go at us in the first 20 mins of the second leg. We have to take advantage of being at home today and look to put at least 3 past Camp.

What ever the outcome of today’s game it’s been a great season and mainly due to that man above, Ian Holloway, What a season and what a manager.

Championship Play-Off Squad Costs

Posted on May 5, 2010
Filed Under Blackpool FC | Leave a Comment

While I wait on getting a ticket for the away leg I’ve done a little research into the cost of the squads for each team in the Championship Play-Offs.

Here’s a few notes about the data.

1. Squad list are from soccerbase
2. Fee paid is also from soccerbase
3. Where undisclosed I’ve searched for an estimated fee (if none then marked as undisclosed)
4. No loan players only permanent players

We all know that we have one of the cheapest squads but here the totals.

So, no surprise that we have cheapest squad out of the four. The majority of that, £800,000 spent on two players, Charlie Adam and Stephen McPhee. Forest head up the table with £12.5 million (Including Radoslaw Majewski who signed today for £1 m). Let’s place that into a pie chart, we all love a pie chart.

So Forest are responsible for half the budget of all the teams put together.

If you want to look at the workings out please head over to the spreadsheet.

Championship Play-Off Squad Costs Google Spreadsheet.

What is interesting is that order of spend matches the order the teams finished in the league. Anyone fancy getting the squad costs for the rest of the league? To then compare with the actual table. I think that Scunthorpe and Doncaster would come out with the lowest squad costs, great considering where the two teams finished in the Championship.

A New Ticket System for Blackpool FC Fans

Posted on May 4, 2010
Filed Under Blackpool FC | 4 Comments

Today there’s been a load of chatter on the avftt message board and the Seasiders mailing list about ticketing for the home and away games. This season it’s only been an issue for a few games, Preston away, Newcastle away and the two play off games. If (and it’s a big if) we managed to gain promotion these ticketing problems would only get worse with many fans wishing to visit the likes of Old Trafford, Anfield etc.

At the moment the club employ a system that looks at your season ticket history, years of continuous season ticket ownership gets you rewards. So over 3 years and over 5 years will be given priority. Technically a fan with a season ticket for 5 years has more privileges than a fan who has had a season ticket for 4 years and been to every away game for the same period. Some would say that you should have more chance of getting away tickets if your a regular away supporter. This is also a problem for anyone who works at the club, so they don’t buy a season ticket but still go to all home matches and many away matches.

There will always be a problem with any ticket system, for some people it will be unfair, but at the moment it seems that our ticket system is unfair due to a lack of technology. This post is a example of what I think is a fairer ticketing system, it would require some neat technology but nothing that couldn’t be created as similar systems are in place at other clubs including Manchester City

Overview

The ticket system works on points allocation, attending matches earns points. The more points you have the earlier you are able to buy tickets for matches. Dates for ticket sales are set on thresholds e.g.  Day 1 over 10,000 points, Day 2 over 7,500 points, etc. The more desirable the match the bigger the points required e.g. More points are needs for Manchester United away than Barnsley away on a Tuesday night.

Each game is set base points, so if you buy a ticket you earn the points. The more points are awarded for the less desirable games e.g. Plymouth away would be 100, where as Preston away would be 10.

This is nothing new but I’ve thought of a few features I think would make the system fairer. Adding variables to the matches attended.

The variable would be the time of the match and the distance you travel. To calculate distance points you would count the distance from the payment address rather than from Bloomfield Road. (Tickets would be sent to that address so no cheating). For example.

Newcastle Away – 50 Base Points
Fan A live in Exeter – 368 miles = 36.80 Points
Fan B lives in Blackpool – 154 miles = 15.40 points

So this way the fan that travelled from Exeter earns a total of 86.80 points, where as the fan from Blackpool ears 65.40 points.

This then works out evenly for a match down south.

Torquay Away – 100 Base Points
Fan A live in Exeter – 38 miles = 3.80 Points
Fan B lives in Blackpool – 298 miles = 29.8 points

This method rewards the fans who travel further for matches. As mentioned the time should also effect the points, so the base points should be doubled for an evening kick off or a morning kick-off. Generally it’s going to be more effort to go to a game midweek compared to a Saturday. E.G. afternoon off work.

All this would be in places for home matches, but there would be no base points, just points for travel.

To help get everyone started you would receive an initial allocation of points for the number of seasons you have been a season ticket holder. E.g. 1,000 per season. There would also be a bonus for each consecutive season of having a season ticket, this is purely to add an extra incentive to keep buying season tickets each year.

To take into account away game attendance for the past few years you would need to submit your ticket subs for the past 5 seasons. As some away games no tickets are issues it does mean a little gap, but that affects everyone. There would also be a slight problem with people selling ticket stubs. Each ticket sub would only be able to be submitted once. If you pay on the gate for an away game you would need to submit your stub at some point to earn the points.

So an overview.

• Match tickets go on sale with point thresholds, e.g. Day 1 – 20,000 points, Day 2 – 15,000 points.
• Points are earned by
• - Season tickets 1,000 each season + 100 for each consecutive season
• - Attending away matches e.g. travel distance miles divided by 100 – Base points – extra for night games.
• - Attending home matches e.g. travel distance miles divided by 100.

This should then reward fans who:

• Have season tickets for years
• Attend away matches
• Travel far for home or away games.

Most importantly there needs to be a way for the tickets to be sold online simultaneously with the ticket office. This avoids the problems of the large queues and any fans who live out of town. To resolve this two options.

• Only have phone sales. Everyone has to phone up to buy the tickets.
• Split the tickets that are available to buy in person and online. E.g. 500 online – 500 at the shop.

Any views on this method of ticket allocation? No system will be perfect but this seams better than what we have now.

Please add your comments below!

Play Offs…..Just

Posted on May 4, 2010
Filed Under Blackpool FC, Charlie Adam, Ian Holloway | Leave a Comment

In the end we stumbled over the line thanks to Swansea’s inability to score, 40 goals in total this season makes the Swans the lowest goal scorers in the division. Considering we grabbed a 1-1 draw at the Liberty and thrashed them 5-1 at home we deserved the final play off spot.

The atmosphere was great on Sunday, having all three stands makes a difference and the addition of a second drummer in the north really adds to the noise. Whatever the division we are in next season it would be great to see us occupy three ends every home match.

As mentioned we stumbled over the line with not the greatest performance of the season. The rubbish pitch, wind, nerves and Charlie having to twinkle toe around to avoid a yellow all took it’s toll, but with 7th place secured that can all be forgotten.
The first leg on Saturday against Nottingham Forest should be a good match, but one that will be a different encounter to the easy 3-1 win on Saturday. Forest once again rested first team players in the 2-2 draw with Scunthorpe this weekend, Camp, Gunter, Majewski, Earnshaw and Blackstock all started on the bench, I’d expect them all to start on Saturday.

Let’s just hope for some similar scenes at the full time whistle this Saturday!

Nearly There

Posted on April 24, 2010
Filed Under Blackpool FC, DJ Campbell | 3 Comments

….I couldn’t make the game today from the photo’s it looked like a another great away day. Swansea were always going to struggle today against Sheffield United, they have trouble scoring generally but there was no chance considering it was Paddy Kenny’s first game back after a ninth month ban. As hard as it is to say, thank to Richard Cresswell for the brace.

It’s been a strange couple of days after it was announced that DJ Campbell had been arrested about a stabbing, if anything it’s just typical he went onto score the winner today.

Role on next weekend which is going to be an epic journey, Friday and Saturday night are going to be spent in Cambridge which means a long drive on Sunday morning can’t wait! Let’s just hope we can match Swansea’s result against Donny! Can’t contemplate thinking about anything after that….

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