A spate of red cards for both players and management has helped send Blackpool into a downward spiral after an unexpectedly good start to the season.
It’s been a peculiar 12 months or so for Blackpool.
Imbued by not only the parachute payments, but also a good chunk of the TV money from their 12 month stay in the top flight that had been squirrelled away by notoriously thrifty chairman Karl Oysten, they should have been well set to push for an immediate return to the big time.
But let’s not forget that their promotion in the first place, secured with a memorable play off final win against Cardiff back in 2009/10 was a massive against-all-odds shock, and given Oysten’s reluctance to spend money on either the team or the club’s decrepit training facilities there was no real reason to expect a bounce-back other than a healthy bank balance and the presence of Ian Holloway in the dugout.
Having failed to return at the first time of asking in 2011/12, Holloway jumped ship for Crystal Palace midway through last season. That seemed the right decision for him at the time, given that he subsequently led the Eagles to promotion, although given his mental meltdown and resignation earlier this campaign perhaps he wishes he’d stayed beside the Seaside where he seemed to have a really good thing going with the club and its fans.
Pool then suffered through being the latest club to jump on the Michael Appleton bandwagon. Thought of, for reasons known only to those who think it, as some sort of immense British super-coach in waiting, Appleton left Portsmouth, where he had a relegation and a 25% win record on his CV (admittedly in trying circumstances) and decamped to Blackpool. He stayed at Bloomfield Road for just 12 matches, eight of which were drawn and only two won, before asking for permission to speak to the Blackburn Circus down the road. Having jumped ship just two months into the job, leaving Pool searching for a third boss of the season, he quickly set about turning Rovers into an ugly long ball outfit and after boring his way through five draws and six defeats in his first 14 matches was sacked. Incredibly, amazingly, depressingly — but perhaps not surprisingly — his name was then linked with the England Under 21s during the summer before Gareth Southgate took up the position. I’m missing something with him clearly.
Pool turned to Paul Ince, a regular at games to watch his son Thomas and therefore well placed to step in and calm things down after such upheaval. But with no promotion in sight, and parachute payments drawing to an end, Ince’s first job in the summer was to bid farewell to a chunk of his squad. In all, 14 players left Bloomfield Road in the summer, including some real mainstays of the team during its recent glory years — Matt Phillips came to QPR, Kevin Phillips sealed a permanent move to Crystal Palace, centre back partnership Alex Baptiste (Bolton) and Ian Evatt (Chesterfield) both left, Stephen Crainey went to Wigan, Elliott Grandin to Palace and so on.
Additions were made, but Steven Davies for £500,000 from Bristol City and Ricardo Fuller on a free from Charlton hardly screamed Premier League. One of the more eye catching additions, former Derby and Forest forward Nathan Tyson, managed just six sub appearances before being loaned to Fleetwood. It all looked rather more League One than upper end of the Championship.
Paul Ince may not be the most likeable man in the world — the posing in the Man Utd shirt while still a West Ham player; the self styled Guv’nor nickname; the sheepish way he stood in the centre circle in the semi-final of Euro 96 and let seven other team mates, including Gareth Southgate fatefully, take a penalty before him; the hilarious on field temper tantrum during the thirty eighth consecutive minute of QPR fans singing "Paul Ince is a wanker” during an FA Cup quarter final at Old Trafford in 1995 and so on and on and on — but he has proven himself as an adept manager in tight situations. He excelled at MK Dons and at Macclesfield early in his managerial career and started this season remarkably well — five wins and a draw from the first six to make Pool the early pace setters.
But an extreme case of ill-discipline has cost Ince and his side since then. In a high-octane, high-tension League Cup tie against local rivals Preston in August he incurred an FA charge for comments made about the refereeing and stewarding after the game. Then during a win at Bournemouth in September Ince was sent to the stands for apparently throwing a bottle during the game, and afterwards in the tunnel launched into a tirade against the fourth official Mark Pottage that included, according to the FA report and eye witness statements, him shouting "I’ll knock you fucking out you cunt” and shoving the official against the wall of the tunnel. Ince was banned from not only the touchline, but the stadium altogether, for five Blackpool matches and the Tangerines have won only three of 13 games since.
Not only that but, perhaps following the lead of their volatile boss, Pool have had five players sent off in the last two games, including three in stoppage time in a defeat at Yeovil last week which were the very definition of a team losing the plot entirely. Two more reds at Derby on Saturday contributed to a televised 5-1 thrashing. Where Ince and his suspension riddled team go now, with fixtures piling up, remains to be seen — particularly with Stuart Attwell and his record of six red cards in his last 12 matches in charge of this Saturday’s game with QPR.
Quick interview with Pool fan Andrew Houston who gave up his time at no notice at all this week, for which we thank him…
Firstly, what on earth is going on with the discipline at your place this season?
Yeah not looking good is it? Eight sendings off and the manager banned from the stadium for five games. Two of the red cards went to Jack Robinson who is a youngster on loan from Liverpool and perhaps showed inexperience. Another two were for Spanish midfielder Angel who is certainly not a player you would say is dirty — perhaps he was trying too hard for the TV. The centre halves MacKenzie and Broadfoot at Yeovil should both have known better. Of the straight reds, Ricardo Fuller foolishly retaliated at Yeovil, and Neil Bishop we thought was a little unlucky at Derby. Ince lost it at Bournemouth which doesn’t show a great example to the staff.
Overall though, given the departures in the summer, this must be seen as a successful season so far?
We’ve been in a bit of a freefall recently but as a side expected to struggle we`ve done OK. We felt with a couple more signings we could do pretty well. Ince’s style of defensive play puts us under more pressure than we are used to, but we`ll come through it.
Who have been the stand out performers, and where are the weak links in the team?
Neil Bishop(who will be suspended for this match) has done better than we expected after arriving on a free from Notts County in the summer. Goalkeeper Matt Gilks, Liverpool loanee Jack Robinson and veteran Scot Barry Ferguson(who’s just back from injury) have been our better players along with Gary Mackenzie at the back and Ricardo Fuller, who will also be suspended for this one. Frustratingly Steve Davies, signed for £500,000 from Bristol City in the summer, and former Ipswich man Michael Chopra haven’t been given many chances to shine. Tom Ince and recently Stephen Dobbie have been disappointing considering their talents.
And what do you make of Paul Ince and the job he's done so far?
Well as you guys know,its a different world from the Holloway gung-ho days. He doesn’t like to lose and that means a lot less attacking and quite a bit of long ball. I think the jury’s still out.
Do Blackpool have realistic ambitions to be a Premier League team? Or will it only ever be an occasional foray up there? What are the short, medium and long term aims?
Well we enjoyed our year up there for sure We need the Chairman to invest more to achieve promotion. Short term we need to steady the ship, and in the medium term maybe bring a couple of players in during the January transfer window and get back up there. Long term ask the chairman. Financially we are sound as the Oyston family run a tight ship but we are frustrated by the lack of investment, and many fans are discontented.
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