Two recent wins have ended a run of 18 matches without success for Blackpool and moved them away from the relegation zone - but the future looks bleak if this team isn't strengthened significantly this summer.
In 1995/96 Millwall led the First Division for the first half of the campaign, losing only three of their first 20 games, before manager Mick McCarthy was lured away to be the Republic of Ireland boss. They appointed Raith Rovers’ boss Jimmy Nicholl to replace him, won only four of their final 32 games, and were relegated.
Not since that remarkable occurrence have we seen a freefall quite as spectacular as Blackpool’s 2013/14 campaign. The Tangerines were a Premier League team as recently as 2010/11 and with Paul Ince at the helm persuading his talented son Thomas to stick with them last summer, and the majority of the television money picked up during that campaign in the top flight still stowed away by ever thrifty chairman Karl Oyston, they may have been a reasonable outside bet for promotion this year. Indeed, they drew one and won five of their first seven matches to set the early pace.
But it’s been nothing short of a disaster ever since. Ince received a five match stadium ban for a foul mouthed tirade against the match officials in the last of those victories at Bournemouth in September. The transcript from the disciplinary hearing made for disgraceful reading, with Ince accused of pushing a fourth official up against a wall in the tunnel and threatening to knock him out.
Example set, his players duly followed suit. Pool had three sent off in a defeat at Yeovil, and two in a thrashing at Derby a game later, back in December. A win at home to Sheffield Wednesday at the end of November, their eighth success of the campaign, gave way to a run of 11 defeats and two draws in 13 matches. Ince fell on his sword, and was replaced temporarily by his midfield veteran Barry Ferguson — whose absence through injury was a big part of the slump — but the defeats kept coming and eventually the winless run stretched to 18 matches.
Fortunately for the Seasiders, just as things looked like they were about to turn really serious they beat Millwall, fellow strugglers at the bottom, and followed that up with a 1-0 win against Huddersfield. They’re not out of the woods, but ti’s given them breathing space from third bottom Yeovil.
In truth, this should all have been expected - 14 players left Bloomfield Road in the summer, including some real mainstays of the team during its recent glory years — Matt Phillips came to QPR, Kevin Phillips sealed a permanent move to Crystal Palace, centre back partnership Alex Baptiste (Bolton) and Ian Evatt (Chesterfield) both left, Stephen Crainey went to Wigan, Elliott Grandin to Palace and so on.
Additions were made, but Steven Davies for £500,000 from Bristol City and Ricardo Fuller on a free from Charlton hardly screamed Premier League. One of the more eye catching additions, former Derby and Forest forward Nathan Tyson, managed just six sub appearances before being loaned to Fleetwood. It all looked rather more League One than upper end of the Championship.
And at the moment it seems that’s where this club is going to end up. Recent Premier League status counts for little once the parachute payments have ended — only six teams of the 24 in the Championship (Brighton, Bournemouth, Huddersfield, Millwall, Yeovil and Doncaster) haven’t had a stint in the Premier League since it was formed in 1992 — and Pool look a long way down the queue of teams that have the potential to return any time soon.
Still under the caretaker managership of Ferguson, with little sign of anybody other than the former Scotland international being plunged into a job where money is notoriously scarce for transfers and the training facilities remain well below standard for the second tier.
They’ll probably do enough to survive this season, but bets placed on them not being so lucky in 2014/15 could be shrewd money.
Tonight we welcome Stee Jackson, exiled Blackpool fan and member of the London branch of the Blackpool Supporters Association, for some in put on the Tangerines’ season so far. Massive thanks to Stee for his time.
A season that started so well has really fallen away for Pool — what went wrong?
The good start papered over the cracks. The squad wasn't good enough, and the wins we had at the start of the season weren't convincing - they were battling rather than dominant performances. Once we lost a few players to injury and suspension we played players out of position, got found out and fell away. Confidence dropped, and other than the out of form Tom Ince we didn't have players that could change a game. A big miss was losing Barry Ferguson to injury. At the start of the season he was as good a player as anyone on the pitch, and a true leader. We've missed that leadership, and don't have a player of the same ilk to replace his presence in midfield.
How do you reflect on Paul Ince’s time with the club? Was it the right decision to sack him?
Ince did a decent job last season taking over and settling the ship after the departures of Ian Holloway and Michael Appleton, and extended caretaker stints where we appeared rudderless. Ince can take credit for that. For whatever reason, and many would blame the chairman's style of transfer dealings as much as the type of players that Ince wanted to bring in, the squad was left with an abundance of battlers, lacking the creative quality to turn games around. Ince's tactics were to be hard to beat and try and nick the odd goal. There didn't seem to be a plan B, if that tactic failed then we struggled to come back in to a game. It wasn't pretty to watch, a far cry from the entertaining attacking football we'd enjoyed under Holloway. Ince appeared to lose the plot, and didn't seem capable of pulling us out of the bad run. It was the right decision for him to go, although improvement since he left has been slow.
How has the prolonged spell under caretaker management gone? Will Ferguson get the job full time?
Ferguson has yet to prove that he's the man to take us forwards. There have been signs of recovery, an improvement over Ince's tenure, but Blackpool still lie in a perilous position. The addition of Eric Black to the management team was a sensible one, as Barry needed an experienced hand to guide him. The job is there for Ferguson to take, but much will depend on success on the pitch. Time is running out for him, and us, but I'd imagine that further improvement on the pitch and steering us clear of relegation would see the chairman offer him the position. Oyston has a history of appointing from within, some would say doing it on the cheap. Simon Grayson turned out to be a great success for us.
Who do you want to see in charge?
Realistically it's unlikely that the chairman will pay for a big name. I could say someone like Michael Laudrup, but it'd be pointless. Billy Davies is now available and had previously been mentioned as a target, but I can't see us providing the resources he'd be likely to want. I was very happy to have Eric Black join the management team for the remainder of the season. His success with Coventry meant he was someone I'd have short-listed for the position previously. I can see him being a potential candidate for next season. I'd like to see a young hungry manager in charge that wants to play good football, with an experienced hand to guide him. In theory that's Ferguson/Black but it's just not happening for us at the moment. Whoever is in charge next season, and in whichever division, the squad needs rebuilding, and it needs to be someone that can bring those players in, get the right balance and keys to the chairman's chequebook.
Who have been the stand out performers and weak links in the side?
Barry Ferguson was the stand out performer at the start of the season and has been missed. Ricardo Fuller has shown quality but can't last the 90 minutes and has been missing through injury and suspension. Neil Bishop isn't the most cultured of players, but has battled hard and given his all. McMahon has looked good since he joined us, finally adding a real right back to the squad rather than the revolving mix of centre halves and midfielders that we had playing there earlier in the season. Since the slump there have been far too many weak links, the centre halves MacKenzie and Broadfoot in particular coming in for criticism.
How do you feel about next season given the struggles of this? Are things going to improve? Are you confident you’re safe this season?
I'm not optimistic for next season. Much will depend on the appointment of the new manager and the funds available to rebuild the squad. After a poor season, assuming we stay up then I think things will improve, better football, but I don't expect us to be realistic candidates to challenge for promotion. Whether we stay up this season is still very much in the balance. There are other teams below us that have an easier run in. We need to get results against Yeovil and Charlton, our run in isn't an easy one.
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