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The bloody Oyston's lure me in to this false sense that something good will happen every bloody year and it never does. You think here's a chance to rebuild, invest and push ahead with a bright. dynamic manager for the new season and instead they throw us a curve ball statement that amounts effectively to nothing, have no manager in place and I really am starting to think no hope.
I'm a die hard who has been through a lot more than this but genuinely if Graham Westley's name is announced that's me done with this lot.
Expect plenty of this Graham if you arrive in Blackpool
As we clearly aren't all going to get to ask Karl what the fans want to know the answers to, and actually I won't be applying, I thought it would make an interesting straw poll to ask what you would like to know from him. So, within reason, what is the burning question you'd ask. Mine would be
Why bother with a youth team when you embarrass them with pitiful contracts and flog them off at the first opportunity?
There’s no question of Peter Clarke’s affection for Blackpool, where he has spent three spells as a player. But having moved back to Bloomfield Road almost a year ago he knows only too well what the remaining players have in store come July.
He was recruited in a haphazard pre-season where former manager Jose Riga was forced to fill in the blanks as friendly matches were cancelled. By the time the first game against Nottingham Forest came around Riga had a squad of 15 available. Blackpool were beaten, and eight months later they were preparing for life in League One.
“It’s a case of deja vu,” Clarke told Sky Sports News HQ, “it’s not a good base for any manager going in there. In one sense they’ve got a blank canvas to work with, but at the same time anyone who does go in there is going to want to make inroads into recruitment and it’s going to be difficult.”
A veteran of more than 550 career appearances Clarke was released despite being a near ever-present for Blackpool this season. He’s lifting the lid on what he downplays as a “tough” season for the Seasiders spent battling against the tide.
Set against the backdrop of basic training facilities, supporter protests and everyone having to wash their own kit — more than 50 different players represented the club at one point or another during the ill-fated campaign. As it stands only seven are guaranteed to return from the summer break.
And having been let go, the defender admits his thoughts are with those still under contract as he said: “Of course you have sympathy with them, it’s a tough environment to be in. It was challenging and you had to play the deal you were dealt. The sooner players learnt that the better. Some perhaps didn’t and fell by the wayside, while performances probably suffered.”
Clarke is now looking for a new chapter in his own playing career, although he admits the pressure to find a new footballing family is increased by trying to look after his own.
“It’s one of the hazards of the job. Your main priority is finding a new club and supporting your family, paying the bills and putting food on the table,” he said.
At 33 years old he knows it’s got to be the right offer for himself and his four children, and although he wants to stay in the Championship it could mean looking into Leagues One or Two, “I’m waiting for the phone to ring,” he says with a smile, “sometimes I wonder if it’s out of signal!”
Why have the feeble Football League let Blackpool hit rock bottom?
Now they can get involved. A brief statement from the Football League said they will rule on whether Blackpool's match with Huddersfield Town should be replayed. Seriously, why bother? There really isn't much point holding a rerun. Open the gates and the same level of protest might be repeated. And what difference would reconvening behind closed doors make, beyond satisfying completists in the fixture department? They could award the game to Huddersfield Town by the standard 3-0 scoreline but besides filling all the columns in the league table, the effect would be redundant. Blackpool are down anyway. Long gone. What is one more defeat in a season full of them? Deducting points in League One would just seem to punish those who have suffered enough: the fans.
The Seasiders had already been relegated to League One prior to Saturday's Championship clash The irony is that the Football League are now having to consider how to deal with Blackpool having been deaf to their plight all season. The official line, however, will not change. It is not for administrators to tell any owner how to run his club. If Karl Oyston's intention is to as good as let Blackpool rot, there is nothing the Football League can do. No rules govern crass executive behaviour or the absence of ambition. Everyone is free to be the owner they want to be: including a rotten one.
There's two more off the wage bill between now and the end of the season - may even treat the staff to a lemonade and crisps party at the end of the season (one mouthful and one handful each!).
I imagine he's done his old trick of turning his phone off but about time he manned up and spoke about this season's debacle and how he intends to put it right.
I've always thought that promotion and relegation should be decided by a result from the team who's fate is being decided and not by a result elsewhere. However I think Rotherham can do us all a favour today and send us down. If Blackpool were a dog it would have been put down months ago and to have to endure this for another week would seem cruel. I'd also like to think it would give Clark half a dozen games to make sure he knows who from this squad he wants and who he doesn't.
Everyone seems to be a bit more optimistic about things after the Bolton game - has a corner been turned? I do think relegation will be a chance to draw a thick line under this horrific season and the sooner the released list is announced the better.
Have to say when the fixtures came out I was really looking forward to Easter - Bolton on the Saturday and Reading on the Monday. Planned a weekend with the folks up North and 180 minutes of football. However, thanks to Northern Rail and the idiotic decision to move our game to Tuesday night - that along with the fact we're crap - no football for me this weekend
Get this one in before Osbourne but when have we ever played a team in 23rd place and our odds were longer than theirs of a win. Not sure that happened even in the Prem!
Now we have a few regular Phantom Guffer's near where I sit in the West but am just wondering is every area in Bloomfield Road affected by the weather related wind. I was about as cold as I can remember yesterday and just wondering if ever area was exposed or if the North and South are somehow shielded? Can't imagine the away fans have much pleasure sat where they are!
Am surprised at the huge over-reaction to Saturday's defeat - just as I wasn't expecting any of the five teams above us to win (although was happy only two got draws), similarly I expected nothing from Molineux and even stuck it on the accumulator. There's not that many surprises when we get to this stage of the season when it comes to top half v bottom half.
Really you can only win your home games and fortunately for us 8/10 are against teams in the bottom half. Whilst 24 points won't keep us up it would go a long way and these are the games we should be looking at - similarly don't expect anything next Saturday!!
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