After a difficult second Championship season during which Blackpool lost manager Simon Grayson they have now turned to former R Ian Holloway to try and push them forward at this level.

Last Season: 16th in Championship Blackpool successfully survived in the Championship for another season despite the loss of star players Kaspars Gorkss and Wes Hoolahan last summer, and the mid-season departure of talismanic manager Simon Grayson. His controversial departure to Leeds left perennial caretaker manager Tony Parkes in charge for the final third of the season and despite winning just five of 23 home games (only Southampton won less) Pool did well enough on the road with eight wins, one more than promoted Burnley, to secure a comfortable lower mid-table finish which with the state of the ground and the size of their crowds is all that can realistically be hoped for at the moment. Parkes was offered a deal to stay on at the end of the season, but it was not a good one and it was clear the club wanted to go a different way so he walked away.

Head to Head: At Loftus Road Rangers needed a late goal from Dexter Blackstock, headed in after Akos Buzsaky had hit the post with a long range free kick, to seal a hard fought points against Blackpool. Gary Taylor-Fletcher seized on a poor header by Damion Stewart to hammer home the opening goal in the first half and the Loftus Road crowd launched into its usual pleas for 442 and two up front. At Bloomfield Road Paulo Sousa’s QPR team won comfortably with Heidar Helguson heading home a cross by Wayne Routledge and slotting in a penalty after a foul on Lee Cook before Hogan Ephraim sealed a 3-0 win in injury time.
QPR 1 Blackpool 1
Blackpool 0 QPR 3

Odds: The bookies have Blackpool placed third bottom in the Championship this season with longest title odds 125/1 (Boyle Sports, SportingBet, Paddy Power, Stan James) and shortest price 66/1 (BlueSq, Coral)

Manager: New Blackpool boss Ian Holloway needs no introduction to QPR fans. A former player at Loftus Road Holloway cut his managerial teeth at another of his former clubs Bristol Rovers. He was desperately unlucky at Rovers to lose out in the play offs when promotion to this league seemed likely, but he made the club huge amounts of money by discovering the likes of Barry Hayles, Nathan Ellington, Jamie Cureton and Jason Roberts in non-league and other clubs’ reserve sides. That attracted QPR to him in 2001 with relegation to the Second Division and administration looming. Holloway got a blank canvas at QPR, with only seven professionals left for the 2001/02 season, but no money for paint. He assembled a rag tag bunch of players along with talented assistant manager Kenny Jackett and miracle working scout Mel Johnson. QPR finished midtable in their first Second Division campaign, made the play off final in the second and won promotion at the third attempt with a team high on effort, work rate and commitment with a smattering of genuinely talented players.

The introduction of Gianni Paladini to the QPR board and a poor start to the 2004/05 season in the Championship almost cost Olly his job but a run of eight wins in nine matches catapulted the R’s into promotion contention before they fell back into mid-table. That was about as much as Rangers were ever likely to accomplish with no money and low crowds and better equipped clubs like Wolves and Leicester started to sniff around the QPR manager. It was interest from the latter that brought an end to Olly’s time at Loftus Road, although it seemed at the time like the Loftus Road board was just looking for an excuse. He was placed on gardening leave in January 2006 and replaced by Gary Waddock, surfacing that summer at Plymouth Argyle.

Again working with meagre resources Holloway assembled a hard working and attractive Argyle side that included the likes of David Norris, Akos Buzsaky and Peter Halmosi, he also rediscovered his knack of unearthing genuine goal scorers when he brought in Sylvain Ebanks Blake from Man Utd for £250k. By the middle of the 2007/08 season though, 18 months after taking the job, Holloway seemed to be becoming frustrated with the lack of resources at Home Park and the prospect of losing the majority of his talented players at the end of the season – in the end, after his departure, Plymouth lost nine of their starting eleven in summer 2008. Despite ruling himself out of the once again vacant Leicester job to such an extent that he branded anybody who thought he would leave Plymouth to go there “an idiot” he moved to the Walkers Stadium in January 2008. Clearly having never read the play through to the end Holloway declared he was pleased to finally be in King Lear after years of acting in Eastenders – he was right of course, though not in the way he wished or intended, as Leicester ended up dead in the end and relegated. Holloway was sacked.

Loved by fans of other clubs for his obscure outbursts, that do become rather irritating after a while if he is in charge of your team and it is not doing very well, Holloway must now rebuild his reputation in the more familiar surroundings of a small club punching above its weight.
Survival Chances: 6/10

Players: On paper Blackpool are in trouble. A poor squad in the first place, since shorn of Shaun Barker who has gone to Derby and DJ Campbell who wanted too much money to make his loan spell permanent at the end of last season, they look like a good bet for relegation. Holloway has added Jason Euell to his arsenal, and that is no surprise after he spent the whole of Southampton v Sheff Utd praising Euell to the hilt on a Sky Sports Soccer Special at the end of last season. Billy Clarke is a risky signing from Ipswich but has shown with Brentford, Northampton, Darlington and others in the lower league that he does have an eye for a goal and may turn out to be shrewd pick up. Holloway has assured Ian Evatt that he will be a key part of his team despite transfer listing him within six months of signing him during his time at QPR, Danny Nardiello has also been promised a second chance to impress. Overall though it is a small squad, lacking necessary quality. Rich board member Valeri Belokon met with Holloway last week after a mediocre pre-season results wise and has agreed to make significant funds available for players with last season’s loan star Charlie Adam already added Additions are needed in one form or another desperately.
Likely Star Player – Charlie Adam.

Transfers
In:
Charlie Adam from Rangers - £500k
Billy Clarke from Ipswich Town – Undisclosed
Jason Euell from Southampton – Free
Out:
Shaun Barker to Derby County - £1m
David Fox to Colchester United – Free
Ashton Bayliss – Released
Marlon Broomes – Released
Francesco Carratta – Released
Stuart Green – Released
Claus Jorgensen – Released
Matt Kay – Released
Jermaine Wright – Released

Prediction: As things stand Blackpool’s squad looks very weak, and certainly capable of finishing in the bottom three. However the announcement this week that Latvian board member Valeri Belokon is making significant money available for transfers should change that and Ian Holloway is absolutely made for this job. Very few managers can get mediocre players producing as much as Olly can and after losing Simon Grayson last season he is an ideal replacement at Bloomfield Road.
Verdict: A struggle, but the Holloway factor will be enough to keep them up with something spare.

Photo: Action Images

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