| BST Column 09:12 - Mar 8 with 202 views | BringBackTheRedRoom |
https://www.blackpoolsupporterstrust.com/Site/LatestNews.aspx?NewId=190
I have to admit I’ve been looking forward to writing this particular column for quite some months! Tomorrow has been dubbed Homecoming Saturday for Blackpool fans. It’s likely that Bloomfield Road is going to be filled to capacity for the first time in five years (April 2014 against Burnley in the Championship to be precise). Given Southend United’s modest away allocation, the stadium will certainly contain more Seasiders than have been seen at a home game in over four decades, since the days of the old ground in fact (December 1977 when Bolton Wanderers were the Christmas fixture).
If anybody ever doubted that the Oyston dynasty would eventually be toppled, last Sunday’s Observer put it quite succinctly: ‘And now, after ….perhaps the most brilliantly orchestrated and devoted fan protest there has been in English football, his time is up.’ The removal of the Oyston business hoardings inside the ground this week was greeted with loud cheers. And if anybody ever doubted that the fan base was waiting in numbers to return once the Oystons had gone, the frantic activity over the last several days to acquire tickets for tomorrow’s game proves those doubts unfounded.
Therefore, to the many thousands who over four seasons took a principled stand against seemingly unprincipled owners, thank you for your unwavering support in helping to bring this change about — and welcome home!
It’s going to be emotional. As well as being a momentous day in the club’s history, one on which the fans get their club back and the club gets its fans back (and how brilliant that is), tomorrow will be a bitter-sweet occasion for many of us who have lost fellow Seasiders in the years of exile. Blackpool Supporters’ Trust is privileged to be sponsoring the match day ball, but has chosen to leave the accompanying hospitality table empty in symbolic tribute to those much-loved fans who never lived to see our glorious return to Bloomfield Road. There will also be a minute’s silence in their memory just before kick-off.
As it is primarily a day of celebration, we hope that as many of you as possible will decide to be part of the party that starts at the Comedy Carpet at 1pm and parades along the promenade to the ground, setting off from opposite the tower at 1.30. Blackpool Are Back scarves will be on sale along with other tangerine merchandise. A number of Blackpool’s ex-players have agreed to come and walk at the front of the parade. In addition, we promised you jelly and ice-cream and Notariannis will be selling their famous scoops in celebration of the event, with all profits going to charity. What the homecoming parade needs is all of you to create the noise and colour, so come in your thousands, children included; wear as much tangerine as possible, paint your faces, wear fancy dress, bring your banners — whatever ideas you have to get thirty years of hurt out of your systems and make this a happy and colourful spectacle. The national media will be covering the event, so let’s make it a true carnival homecoming and show the world that Blackpool Are Back!
With so much to fit into the afternoon, it is important that fans get to their seats in good time. Once inside the stadium, everybody will have a clean seat to sit on in a sold-out Bloomfield Road. Many of those seats had not been occupied in four seasons and they were in a frightful state. Huge thanks go to the army of volunteer supporters who worked their way around all 15,000 seats in five days this week to make sure they were fit for use and thanks to the club for providing refreshments. We would like to request that everyone who attends the game on Saturday takes their rubbish home after the game. This will help enormously as the club has to prepare for another game on Tuesday evening. The volunteers will be needed again, so even if you can’t come down to help, you can play a part by leaving your seat area as clean and tidy as possible as you leave.
Praise must go to the staff of the club who have worked for so long in such difficult circumstances, both during the Oyston years and in the last hectic week and a half. Everything we have seen of the state of the stadium and the working conditions of those staff just reinforces what was always believed to be the case - that the club succeeded in spite of and not because of the Oystons.
Final proof of that came in discussions with Blackpool Council this week when agreeing details of tomorrow’s celebration parade, for it transpired that back in May 2010 upon winning that play-off final at Wembley, the owners had no interest in and no plans for celebrating the club’s fantastic achievement and were certainly not going to be spending a penny of their own money on any such event. If the Council hadn’t organised it all, nothing would have happened.
Everyone connected with the club feels unshackled, and even though the possibility of a 12 point deduction still hovers (the EFL having deferred its decision this week as it seeks more information from the board), there is a huge sense of euphoria and positivity around the place which should help in the months ahead. Last week’s column likened Bloomfield Road to a theatre of war, and the state of the decay and disconnect the Oystons have left behind is frankly quite shocking. However, the war is over and their departure offers us all a new start.
It is to be hoped that as a fans’ organisation we will be able to engage constructively with the interim board and ultimately with the new owners in the task of rebuilding Blackpool FC as a happy and successful community club again. This situation presents us all with a unique opportunity to take our club forward. Blackpool supporters are an incredible bunch and just as our collective actions and determination have helped to free the club, so we can now contribute to the rebuilding of the club and the community it serves. We would welcome every supporter being a part of that process.
And so our love affair with the team in tangerine can resume its proper form once again — ‘Bringing on back the good times/ Living on air/ So glad that you’re there.’ Come on the Pool. There’s a winning streak waiting to be built. Blackpool tower may even glow in the club’s colours tonight. ‘Sweet Tangerine, good times never seemed so good.’
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| ‘Where there is harmony, may we bring discord. Where there is truth, may we bring error. Where there is faith, may we bring doubt. And where there is hope, may we bring despair’ |
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| BST Column on 12:48 - Mar 8 with 188 views | spell_chekker |
The march / match won't be spoilt by the rain either.
Strong winds and sunny intervals forecast. From 1 o'clock onwards should be the nicest part of the day. | |
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| BST Column on 07:58 - Mar 9 with 172 views | BringBackTheRedRoom |
This was posted on AVFTT, thought I'd stick it here.
And so it arrives, the glorious 9th, Homecoming Saturday. Blackpool are back! Come on down to the seaside and celebrate our return to Blackpool FC. Be part of the party and join the big parade. It’s our club and we’ve got it back. Wear your colours and your scarves, bring your banners and your flags. Let’s make the town and then Bloomfield Road a sea of tangerine today.
Here’s the plan. Assemble on the Comedy Carpet (opposite Blackpool Tower) from 12:45 onwards. There will be Blackpool Are Back scarves, flags and other merchandise on sale before the parade. TV and radio crews will be there wanting everybody’s story and soaking up the atmosphere. Ex-Blackpool players will join us and will lead the parade which will set off along the Promenade at 13:20. We’ll cross the tram tracks near the Manchester and parade up Lytham Road and Lonsdale Road then across Seasiders Way to the ground. Let’s make it happy and noisy. If you can’t join at the Comedy Carpet feel free to join in any way along the route. The parade should take 30-40 minutes and will be marshalled by BST volunteers in hi-vis vests. Notariannis will be selling jelly and ice-cream outside the ground where BST’s ‘open office’ used to be.
Here’s the small print. Please read it. This is a high-profile public event so please be responsible as well as high-spirited. Take due care along the way, especially if it’s windy and wet underfoot. Stick to the route signalled by the marshals and keep well clear of the tram tracks. Parents please supervise children at all times. Follow the stewards’ guidance when crossing tram tracks and main roads. Everyone’s safety is paramount. The police have advised that there should be no flares, pyrotechnics, or smoke bombs (either on the parade inside the stadium).
The bottom line is this — we’ve waited so long for this day. Let’s enjoy it sensibly, celebrate it with a happy passion and make it one to remember for all the right reasons.
BST committee | |
| ‘Where there is harmony, may we bring discord. Where there is truth, may we bring error. Where there is faith, may we bring doubt. And where there is hope, may we bring despair’ |
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