There was a time that match day would fill Blackpool fans with hope, excitement and expectation, nowadays they approach a game with hate, repulsion and anger. When will things ever return to normality at Bloomfield Road? The vast majority would answer that question with 'when the Oyston's pack up and go' but the chances of that happening are minimal. In the meantime, Lee Clark will be starting to realise just how difficult the owners of the club are to work with. Having brought through Dom Telford and Mark Waddington, with neither having let him down, Oyston has now demoted them back to his Youth Side for not agreeing to a misely wage.
You can imagine therefore when Ian Holloway walks through the doors at Bloomfield Road he'll do so with a wry smile on his face but the frown lines on his forehead will be more evident. Having taken the club to the Promised Land, he saw what was coming when no funds were available and jumped ship at the right time. When he looks at the cabbage patch pitch, a patched up Blackpool first team and all the empty seats in the ground, he will wonder, as every fan does, just how the Oyston's got it so wrong ... and continue to do so.
On the pitch new signing Grant Hall could make his debut following his loan move from Tottenham. Jose Miguel Cubero has returned to training and Jamie O'Hara is available after signing a contract extension. Also available is French striker Saer Sene and Sunderland pair Connor Oliver and David Ferguson and Ipswich Town last night confirmed their 20-year-old winger Alex Henshall had joined Pool on a one-month loan. Millwall add two new signings, left-back Dan Harding and winger Paris Cowan-Hall, to the squad. Defenders Andy Wilkinson (back) and Mark Beevers (ankle) and striker Lee Gregory (back) are all a doubt.
A day when the outcome of the game on the pitch is sadly largely irrelevant in comparison to what's going on off it - bizarre when match days actually become a distraction to the real story at Bloomfield Road.