After the last international break we predicted that the six games in October/November until the next break could prove crucial for Jose Riga. As it happens, he fell at the halfway stage having lost the first three games against Huddersfield, Derby and Reading. So now the baton is handed to Lee Clark who'll probably wish the next break for the Euro qualifiers was sooner rather than later. If he is really looking to ingratiate himself with the tangerine faithful then Saturday's home game against Ipswich and the two away trips to Fulham and Leeds means he has eight days to try and find some results.

Jose Riga has set the lowest of benchmarks as the worst manager in the history of Blackpool Football Club. Just one win in fourteen games and an embarrassing League Cup exit is all he has to show for his time on the Fylde Coast. The question which Lee Clark may be able to answer is whether this squad is good enough for this league or, as many think, do we have the worst team in the Championship? If so, does he have the time and the backing to changing it? Certainly by this stage of the season the table rarely lies and with the Seasiders cut adrift at the foot of the table, it will be quite an achievement for us to avoid the relegation trap door. So what will Clark do differently and will the time between now and Saturday's game be long enough for him to add to the squad?

There have been plenty of mysteries under Riga. The injuries to Cubero and Oriol, the disappearance of Ranger, playing a midfielder at left back when there were two players available in that position, playing at times with one striker and the lack of any short term loans when the club clearly needed them. Fans will always point to Karl Oyston but there has been something not quite right about Riga's time in charge, some of which the Chairman had no control over. However, moving forward and Clark will have been watching videos of the side this week despite not joining them for training until Thursday. The new manager has already seen Ipswich this season having drawn 2-2 with McCarthy's side whilst in charge at Birmingham (he also managed the Blues against Fulham and Leeds this season which could be an advantage next week).

Ipswich are one of those good solid Championship sides, which really after the Premier League money is where we should be. After an impressive September, they've hit the ropes a bit with four draws and a defeat in their last five games. Tyrone Mings — the Championship Player of the Month for September — missed last weekend’s 2-2 home draw with Huddersfield through suspension but is available again. Creative midfielder Jonny Williams — on loan from Crystal Palace — didn’t play last weekend because of a minor knock but should be available.
Midfielder Kevin Bru and full-back Jonathan Parr are doubts for the trip to Bloomfield Road.

So yet another new era without the hype, the propaganda and the razzmatazz of Riga's arrival and maybe that's no bad thing. He certainly won't look as good in a suit and have that air of mystery about him that Riga did, but Lee Clark knows it's a results business and beat Ipswich and he'll soon win the backing of the fans.

Photo: Action Images

HarryFromBath added 12:23 - Oct 31 Polite Ipswich supporter here. Like the overwhelming majority of football supporters in this country, we are looking at how things have panned out with horror and relieved that we are not in the same boat. It is hard to believe that it only just over two years since Blackpool ripped us to shreds. Before that game, we suspected that we had screwed our summer transfer window under Paul Jewell, but that game brutally exposed how bad things really were. Your comments about us are pretty much spot on. People were frustrated at how we betrayed ourselves yet again by losing a lead last Saturday against Huddersfield. The Terriers possibly deserved a draw, but we definitely gave points away at Forest and at home to Blackburn. My one concern about Lee Clark is a nasty habit he has of becoming defensive late on in games. We scored a late equaliser at St Andrew's early on this season after he took a winger off and brought on an extra defender, handing us the initiative. I remember Birmingham giving up a similar winnable position shortly afterwards at Brentford. Anyway, those concerns may be for another day. More importantly and more widely, I think that all football supporters hope that there is some positive resolution to your current problems sooner rather than later. It really does beggar belief.

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