THE BEAUTIFUL GAME How the Tables Turn?
How strange is it to see Blackpool in the Barclays Premier league?? It just doesn’t seem right does it? Fair play to the Seasiders, they played hard last season in the Championship and fully deserved their win over Nottingham Forest in the play off semi and the subsequent play-off final win over Cardiff. They may not be the most fashionable football club in the football pyramid but they are there in the top-flight of English football.
So what if they play in an ‘Orange’ kit, so what if there’s still a transport system in the town dating back to 1885? Who cares if their average home attendance last season was a mere 8,611? They are in the Premier League so we’re all going to have to get used to it, at least for the next 9 months or so, depending how they fair!
One thing they can categorically claim from this day forward is that they sat in 5th place in the Barclays Premier League. As this article was written just before the campaign kicked off, every Premier League club has nil points, so their 5th place is simply due to the table appearing in alphabetical order! Blackpool are no strangers to top-flight football though, their history is far more impressive than some may think. Back in the early 1930’s they spent three years in Division One (that’s the old top-flight to you youngsters out there) before the days of the Premiership. After being relegated from Division One after three seasons and returning back to Division Two (that’s the Championship equivalent of today to you youngsters) they were once again back up there in 1937 and remained amongst the elite for 30 years! It was only the late 60’s when the Tangerines began their drop into the lower leagues. In 1983 they reached their all time low finishing the season fourth from bottom of the basement league, Division Four (that’s the equivalent of the Sunday morning pub league or something nowadays).
SHREWSBURY to LONDON - just £40 Return Travel Blackpool, an inspiration to all teams?
To see Blackpool in the Premier League is almost as shocking as seeing the likes of Grimsby Town and Darlington fall out of the football league and into Blue Square Bet Premier. Having said that, would any of us have predicted 10 years ago, the likes of Oxford United or Luton Town not having their place in the football league? It’s amazing really how the tables do turn especially over a relatively short period of time. Look at Wrexham (The sleeping Giants) as their die-hard fans like to call them. They are one of the oldest surviving football clubs in the UK. Their Racecourse Ground, with a capacity of over 15,000 even hosted the Wales International matches prior to the Millennium stadium being built. It just goes to show how we shouldn’t take too much for granted as fans doesn’t it? This season we may consider ourselves to be in our rightful place (or not) but who knows what’s around the corner, where we could be in a few seasons’ time? We all know it’s mainly about the financial stature of a club that determines it’s future but let’s at least enjoy this season, whatever it brings at the end. Let’s live for the now, and may it be a tremendously successful season with all the excitement and thrills which we pay our hard earned cash to see. It’s such a beautiful game – embrace it! Ade Roberts
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