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HTFC away at Blackpool - Printable Version

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HTFC away at Blackpool - Lord Snooty - 12-09-2021

Blackpool v Huddersfield Town
The Sky Bet Championship
Tuesday September 14th - 19:45 ko
at Bloomfield Road

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Huddersfield Town travel to the Las Vegas of the North to play Blackpool at Bloomfield Road on Tuesday evening for the first time since that game got abandoned at half time in 2015. We go there still in the top half of the Championship table, but on the back of an unfortunate defeat in the Potteries. A win would've had us up to 3rd, but it's Stoke who sit in that lofty position now.

What team will Carlos Corberán select for this one? Well hopefully young Chelsea boy Levi Colwill will be in the starting XI, after he was rested on Saturday because of his time away with the u21s where he played a gruelling zero minutes of football. Similarly, Danel Sinani returned from international duty with Luxembourg, where he won his 37th international cap. He played three games last week and hopefully he will be back in the starting line up for this seaside jaunt. Danny Ward? Who knows? He had a "slight niggle" keeping him out of the Stoke game. He could be back for this or he could well be out until Christmas. You just never know what you're gonna get with Town injuries these days. I reckon West Ham loanee, the Dubliner, Mipo O'Dubeko ought to start anyway.

But what do I know? Carlos moves in mysterious ways, his wonders to perform.

Blackpool go into this match on a high after they got their first Championship win of the season, at home to Fulham. They won 1-0 with a goal from former Cottager, Josh Bowler-Hatt. Those three points were the first gained at home this season, after a couple of draws down south at Bristol City and Bournemouth.

Tickets: Well whatever happened to the pledge to allow Town fans who kept their ticket stubs for the abandoned game in 2015 in for free?

Adults - £23
Seniors (over 65s) - £19
Under-18s - £9
Under-12s - £5
Under-5s - FREE

A brief history of Blackpool FC: formed in 1887, joining the Lancashire League, then the Football League in 1896. They struggled and failed to gain re-election in 1899. It was only for one season though and in their one season out of the League, they moved into Bloomfield Road.

They stayed in the 2nd Division for the next 30 years, finally gaining promotion as champions in 1929/30, with Jimmy Hampson scoring 45 goals. He spent eleven seasons at the seaside and is still Blackpool's all time leading goal scorer with 252 goals in 373 games. Harry Evans was the manager and he was in charge for the next three seasons in Division One. They only just avoided relegation in the first two, but finished bottom in the third and so went down.

Joe Smith took over the manager's job in 1935 and would remain there until 1958. He got them promoted again in 1937 as runners up to Leicester City and when war broke out in '39, they were top of the league when it was abandoned. During the war, they signed on Stan Mortensen, who had been invalided out of the RAF after the bomber on which he was the wireless operator, crashed leaving him as the only survivor. He was joined shortly after the war by Stanley Matthews, who would go on to supply Stan with crosses for the next few years.

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Joe Smith

Blackpool reached the FA Cup Final for the first time in 1948, to play Manchester Utd at Wembley. They led twice through an Eddie Shimwell penalty and then Mortensen put them 2-1 up before half time. The Reds came back in the second half though and won it 4-2.

They made it back again in 1951 to play Newcastle Utd and once more, the two Stanleys were on the losing side as the Magpies won it 2-0 with both coming from geordie legend Jackie Milburn.

However, undeterred, they returned to the FA Cup Final two years later in '53 to play Bolton Wanderers, for what became known as the Matthews Final, one of the most famous matches of the century. Mortensen scored a hat trick for Blackpool and must've been slightly peeved that the media dubbed it the Matthews Final and not the Mortensen Final. Anyway, Bolton scored first through another legend, Nat Lofthouse in the 2nd minute. Mortensen got his first before half time, but Bolton went in 2-1 at half time when Willie Moir put them ahead. They went further ahead in the 55th minute through Eric Bell and then Stan made it 3-2 in the 68th, from a pinpoint Matthews cross. With time running out and Bolton having one hand on the trophy, Mortensen completed his hat trick, direct from a free kick. All waiting for extra time which never came, as Matthews once more dribbled his way down the wing and delivered. His cross missed Mortensen but landed at the feet of Bill Perry who slotted home and the Cup was Blackpool's.

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The match was one of the stand out events of a remarkable year in the UK and one of the first to have a massive tv audience as households had bought or rented sets for the Queen's coronation.

The Seasiders went from strength to strength and in '55/56 they finished runners up in the league to Man Utd, their highest ever league finish. They followed that with 4th place and 7th before Smith retired in '58, leaving as Blackpool's most successful manager. Former player Ron Suart took over, finishing 8th in his first season. But for the next few years, they struggled. Matthews was still there, but at the age of 46, he went back to his former club, Stoke City.

They were stuck in mid table obscurity for some time, with a young lad called Alan Ball the star player, before he moved to Everton and World Cup glory in 1966. The following year, Blackpool were relegated and Suart resigned. His replacement was Stan Mortensen. He almost had them promoted as they came over here to play the final game of 67/68 at Leeds Road. They won the match 3-1 but QPR pipped them to the final promotion spot with a last minute winner at Villa Park, which took them up on Goal Average.

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They did win promotion two years later as runners up to the magnificent Ian Greaves led Huddersfield Town team, but not with big Stan in charge. He had been controversially sacked and replaced with Les Shannon. Most pleasing for the Tangerine fans was not only winning 3-0 at local rivals Preston on the final day with a Fred Pickering hat trick, but the double joy of relegating the Lillywhites at the same time.

Short lived joy though. They finished bottom and were relegated, with club and country legend, Jimmy Armfield, retiring at the end of the season. It wasn't total despair though. They did win the short lived tournament, the Anglo/Italian Cup, beating Bologna 2-1 in the Final.

They had more despair though in 1978 when they dropped down to the 3rd division for the first time in their history. What's worse is it would take them 29 years to return to the second tier. Stan Ternent became manager, but was replaced by the returning, squeaky voiced, World Cup winning Alan Ball. He couldn't replicate his playing days as a manager and shortly after his departure in 1981, the Tangerine Dream became a nightmare as they were relegated to Division Four.

They had three seasons in the basement, winning promotion as runners up to Chesterfield in 1985. The Board of Directors celebrated promotion by trying to sell Bloomfield Road for supermarket development. However when the council rejected those plans, the white knight saviour came into view and bought the club for £1. A pound! His name was Owen Oyston.

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He oversaw the club getting relegated again to Div 4 in 1990. The next season saw them reach their first Play Offs, losing in the Final on penalties to Torquay Utd. Undeterred, they returned to Wembley in the next season to face Scunthorpe Utd. Dave Bamber scored in a 1-1 draw and so it went to penalties again. This time though, they won 4-3, with goalkeeper Steve McIlhargey the hero.

That had been with Billy Ayre in charge. By the time they reached the Play Offs again in '96, Sam Allardyce was the manager. They played Bradford City in the semis, winning 2-0 at the Manningham Tip. It was one of the Play Offs' biggest cock ups in the 2nd leg though as they blew it completely, losing 0-3. Oyston wasn't pleased and Big Sam got the sack.

Oyston was in jail for raping a 16 year old girl though when Gary Megson replaced Sam. By the time he got out, Nigel Worthington and Steve McMahon had been in the manager's hot seat and the club had returned to the 4th division. McMahon got them back up though in 2001, once more through the Play Offs. They beat Leyton Orient 4-2 at the Millennium Stadium with goals from Ian Hughes, who joined Town a couple of years later, Brian Reid, Paul Simpson and Brett Ormerod.

They have good memories of the Welsh national stadium, following up that Play Off win with two FL Trophy wins there. Firstly in 2002, beating Cambridge Utd 4-1 and then in 2004, they beat Southend Utd 2-0.

More Play Off success came in 2007 as the Tangerines ended that 29 year wait for a return to the 2nd division, which was by now known as the Championship. They beat Yeovil Town at the newly re-built Wembley Stadium 2-0. Two players who would later come to Town scored. Robbie Williams scored the first, with Keigan Parker sealing the deal for the club managed by future Town manager, Simon Grayson.

He left after a couple of years in the Championship to join the BellEnders of Beeston. Karl Oyston was by now the Chairman and he brought Ian Holloway in, after Tony Parkes had been caretaker. He got them to the Play Offs again and this time, winning got them to the promised land of the Premier League. They beat Cardiff City at Wembley, with another Town player on the score sheet. It was a 3-2 win with all the goals coming in the first half. Charlie Adam and Gary Taylor-Fletcher had both scored equalisers before Ormerod repeated his heroics of 9 years earlier by scoring the winner in injury time.

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That meant they had become the first team to have won the Play Offs of all three divisions, a feat that only Huddersfield Town have matched since. Just like their last stint in the top flight in 1970 though, it was immediate relegation again. They had some good days though, doing the double over Liverpool and on the final day of the season, they were leading at Old Trafford, but lost 2-4 to get relegated.

They made the Play Offs straight away, but this time, after beating Birmingham City in the semis, they lost at Wembley to West Ham Utd. What followed was not nice to watch from an outsider's perspective as they tumbled down the leagues, with mass protests against the Oyston family, most famously on the last day of the 2014/15 season as Lee Clark led them to relegation.

Clark resigned, but the resentment of the Oystons was not dying down and they went down again. They won the Play Offs for a record fifth time in 2017, the day before we beat Reading, by beating Exeter City 2-1 with goals from Bradley Potts and Mark Cullen. Not many Blackpool fans were in attendance though, not wanting any of their money to go to the Oystons.

The fans eventually got what they wanted though in 2019, Simon Sadler becoming the new owner of the club, officially ending the Oystons' 32-years in control. He put Simon Grayson in the manager's job, but this time it didn't work out and he was replaced in 2020 by Neil Critchley. That did work out and at the end of last season, they had won the Play Offs for a sixth time. This time it was Lincoln City, who had the fortune of Ollie Turton, in his last game before signing for us, putting the ball in his own goal in the first minute. Two goals from Kenny Dougall though saw the Tangerine Dream (have I used that one already?) realised and they were once more, back in the Championship.

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Head to Head

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Blackpool lead the head to head with 34 wins to Town's 30, with 23 draws.

And our record at Bloomfield Road is pretty poor. Of the 44 visits there, we have only returned victorious on 7 occasions, with a whopping 24 of them ending in defeat.

But there have been quite a few notable games over the years between these two clubs, including our record league win and the last match at our old home.

Let's start at the beginning and our first season in the Football League, 1910/11. Both games were played in 1911, the first one at Leeds Road in February attracted a crowd of 6,000 and ended in a 2-2 draw. Our goals came from defender Ellis Hall and winger Joe Jee. And it was he, Jee, who scored in the 1-1 draw at Bloomfield Road six weeks later.

We were both in the second division for the years up to the war and the first season after. But we got promoted and didn't meet the Seasiders again until 1930/31 after they came up as 2nd division champions. We played at Leeds Road on the 13th of December and it is a game that has gone down in history as our record league victory (we beat Heckmondwike 11-0 in the FA Cup in 1909). A crowd of 11,932 turned up to see us play the team at the bottom of the league with only 11 points from their first 18 games and despite Blackpool's lowly position, optimism wouldn't have been that high with the Town on a run of nine games without a win. However, they got off to the best possible start when Joe Robson scored in the first minute.
Blackpool equalised soon after though in the 18th minute. But Town forged ahead with two more before half time through George McLean and Bob Kelly.
In the 2nd half, Scotsman McLean made it 4-1 and completed his hat trick in the 59th minute for Town's fifth. Jimmy Smailes made it six, six minutes later and it was 7-1 when Harry Davies slotted home from a Smailes cross. And it was Smailes again who laid on the chance for McLean to get his fourth and Town's 8th in the 79th.
These were his first goals in a Town shirt following his transfer in the previous month from neighbours, Bradford Park Avenue. He had scored well over a hundred goals for them and would finish with 46 for us before returning north of the border to his first club, Forfar Athletic.
Our rampant forwards weren't finished yet and in the last ten minutes, Robson added two more to complete his own hat trick and make it a 10-1 win for the Town.

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Robson score twice 12 months later when Blackpool came back to ours for another pasting. Kelly got another with George Crownshaw and Charlie Luke also scoring as the Seasiders managed to keep the score down to 5-0. They did beat us 2-0 though at theirs in the return fixture and the season after, we only took one point off them in their relegation season. They also beat us 2-0 at Bloomfield Road in our first ever FA Cup meeting, in the 4th round.

Blackpool came back up in '37 and we were both still in the first division after the war. Town had fallen to Div 2 though by the time our paths crossed again in the FA Cup. It was a famous year for the Tangerines as they went on to win the FA Cup for the one and only time in their history, beating us 1-0 at Bloomfield Road in round 4.

We were promoted that season though and so met up again in the top flight. That lasted for three season and we were the ones relegated again. We met up in the 60s again, this time in division 2. That was for three seasons, which ended with us both being promoted in '69/70 and so met up once again in the first divison in 1970. The game at Leeds Road was the first match of the season and we won it 3-0 with two goals from Steve Smith and a penalty scored by Frank Worthington. Big Frank is in this picture, wearing the fashionable flares of the time. I'm also in this picture of that match against Blackpool on the 15th of August. I remember sitting on that fence at that game, but I can't make out which one is me, but it'll be one of the lads in short pants.  Whistle

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Anyway, they went down and we went down the year after. Both clubs suffered in the next decade or so and we met a few times in the lower leagues. They beat us again in the FA Cup in '90/91, 2-0 at Leeds Road. And they were back at Leeds Road famously for the last ever match there in 1994. The Final Whistle. That was on the 30th of April 1994 and just like the game in 1930, Town scored in the first minute. This time it was local boy, 18 year old Simon Baldry. Blackpool equalised before half time, but in the 68th minute, a bit of head tennis around the box saw the ball finally land at the feet of Phil Starbuck, who hit the ball through a defender's legs to beat former Town keeper Lee Martin in the Blackpool goal to score the last ever goal at the famous old stadium.

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The season after that, we played Blackpool away on the first day. And what a day it was. It was the one day in the year that the sun shines there and thousands of Town fans took to the Golden Mile. It wasn't an all ticket game like we have now and so our cramped away section in by what was now a dilapidated old Bloomfield Road, was soon overflowing. Once again, the terrific Terriers scored early. New signing Paul Reid, on his debut following a transfer from Bradford City, scored it. He got another and Ronnie Jepson also scored twice as Town ran out winners by a scoreline of 4-1, that set off a great season in style and ended with promotion via the Play Offs.

Rocket Ron scored twice against them in the next season. We had been promoted, but met them in the FA cup and got our one and only FA cup win over the Tangerines, 2-1 in the 3rd round.

The next meeting of note was a two legged affair in the Northern Area Final of the Football League Trophy. Following a disappointing 1-3 reverse by the sea, with Danny Schofield scoring ours, we met again a fortnight later at the MacAlpine Stadium. By the 33rd minute, the aggregate scores were level. Firstly, Clyde Wijnhard scored from the spot and then Schofield got the second with a beauty of a shot curling in the top corner after cutting in from the right hand side. This thriller of a game, with a place at Wembley at stake ended 3-3 on aggregate at the 90 minute mark and so it went to golden goal extra time. Sadly, Blackpool got it and earned a trip from their own Tower to the Twin Towers of the North London shithole National Stadium.

We had another goal fest, three seasons later in the same competition. This time at the 2nd round stage. Blackpool led 1-0 at half time through Matt Blinkhorn, but John McAliskey equalised two minutes after the break. Yond pillock, Efe Sodje, got himself sent off though a minute later. However, that man Schofield scored against them again to put the Town's ten men into the lead. Blinkhorn got his second though soon after and the game went to extra time at 2-2. What followed was a good example of what a good idea it was to scrap the Golden Goal rule as five, yes five goals came in extra time. Keigan Parker and Jamie Burns scored for them. Adnan Ahmed pulled one back for us to make it 4-3 before the extra time break, but before the ref could blow his whistle, Daniel Coid made it 5-3. Burns got his second soon after and so the Tangerines won it 6-3.

Our fifth FA Cup meeting came in '06/07. A first round match at the Galpharm Stadium and it was Blackpool winning again, with Wes Hoolahan scoring, like he always seemed to do every time he played against us. And they beat us 1-0 again in the next season in our only League Cup meeting.

Finally, that stupid match at their place in 2015. We had beaten them earlier in the campaign 4-2, but then at the final match of the season, the Blackpool fans had a planned protest on the pitch at half time, which they kept going until the match got abandoned. Town should've been awarded a 3-0 win, but the FL decided to leave it at 0-0 seeing as they were already relegated and we had nothing to play for. Nothing to play for? A win for us would've meant us finishing above Leeds in the final standings. Don't you say there's nothing to play for, you bureaucratic bum fluffers! Angry

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So what's going on down on Bloomfield Road? Managed nowadays by Neil Critchley, the former Liverpool manager.

Liverpool manager? Yes, Liverpool manager. He was the one who took over when Jürgen Klopp took the team away to Qatar to play in the FIFA Club World Cup in 2019 and the EFL, in their wisdom, wouldn't postpone the EFL Cup tie against Aston Villa. As u23's manager, Critchley was given the job as manager for the night, but they lost 0-5 to a full strength Villa team. Klopp must've been impressed though as he gave him another game in charge, away at Shrewsbury in the FA Cup later on in the same season. This time they won 1-0.

The bosses at Blackpool must also have been impressed as the following month they offered him a three and a half year contract to take over their managers job. That was just as the Covid pandemic arrived and so he didn't get many games in that season. The next one though, he guided them to a 3rd place finish and a Wembley win in the Play Offs against Lincoln City.

Earlier in his playing career, he had one match for Crewe Alexandra and three for Leigh RMI.

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Who's in their squad then? Shayne Lavery signed from Linfield in July and scored on his debut. He came off the bench in the 80th minute and scored the equaliser at Bristol City in the 3rd minute of injury time. He followed that with a goal in the Carabooboo against the Boro. He scored another late equaliser against Sunderland in the same competition, but the Mackems went and won it even later on. And then he scored his 4th goal in his first month as a Seasider when he opened the scoring down at Millwall. Again, it was a lead they couldn't hold and went on to lose.
He's 22 years old and signed for Everton in 2015 from Glenavon, but the closest he got to the first team in his four years there was as an unused sub in a Europa League match. Before he left for Linfield though, he had a loan spell in the Scottish Championship with Falkirk, but didn't score in six outings. And also gained his first cap for Northern Ireland in a match against Panama.
His first goal for Norn Irn came just last week when he netted in their World Cup qualifiers victory in Lithuania. His fifth goal of the season already. One to keep an eye on, me thinks.

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Up top, alongside Lavery is Jerry Yates, who never really troubled the scoring charts in his time at Rotherham, but netted 20 times in last season's promotion campaign at Blackpool. Ex Wendy forward Gary Madine is there now. Keshi Anderson is another striker in the squad, as is Tyreece John-Jules, who's on loan from Arsenal. If that name sounds familiar, it's because he's the nephew of the Cat from Red Dwarf.

The goalkeeper, Chris Maxwell, is the club captain. He signed in 2020 after being released by Blackpool's local rivals Preston Both Ends. He will always be remembered by Town fans for saving a penalty from Aaron Mooy, only for the legend of Collin Quaner to pop up and bang home the rebound.

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Chris Maxwell beaten by the legend


The keeper on the bench is Daniel Grimshaw. He's 23 years old and has still to make his EFL debut. Someone with a lot more EFL experience than him is central defender Richard Keogh. Don't laugh! There are two more ex Town men in defence, James Husband and Reece James. Callum Connolly signed in the summer after being let go by Everton. He was sent off at Millwall, so may be suspended for this, depending on the severity of his ban. Luke Garbutt is another one who was chewed and spat out by the Toffees. Marvin Ekpiteta plays at full back and came from Leyton Orient.

In midfield they have Josh Bowler-Fruit, yet another Everton reject. Irish winger CJ Hamilton, had a spell at the Shay before playing four years for Mansfield.

The goal scoring Wembley hero, Kenny Dougall, is an Aussie who came to England in 2018 and played a couple of seasons at Barnsley before going to Blackpool. Kevin Stewart went there from Hull City, but actually played 11 times in the Premier League for Liverpool. Really? I don't remember that. Anybody?

The Tangerines had a busy few days at the back end of the transfer window and they brought in midfielder Ryan Wintle on loan from Cardiff, who was Player of the Season at Crewe last year. Jordan Lawrence-Gabriel, a defender from Nottingham Forest, signed on permanently after being on loan last season. Another defender, Dujon Sterling, has arrived on loan from Chelsea. And on Deadline Day, they secured the signing of Crewe's Owen Dale for half a million squid.


Saturday's line up at home to Fulham:

1 Maxwell
4 Lawrence-Gabriel
21 Ekpiteta
26 Keogh
29 Garbutt
11 Spin-Bowler
8 Wintle
6 Stewart
10 Anderson
9 Yates
28 John-Jules

Subs:
3 Husband
12 Dougall
16 Carey
19 Lavery
23 Grétarsson
32 Grimshaw
35 Sterling


Club connections:

They've got Richard Keogh.



I said, don't laugh.  Laugh

Seriously though. Almost 700 league appearances, 31 of them for us in two separate spells. Not one good performance in them. Can't speak for the rest of his 600 and odd others though. I suppose somebody, somewhere must've rated him. Whistle

They also have James Husband in their squad, who came to us on loan from Middlesbrough in 2016. He played 12 times for us then signed for Norwich. He then signed for Blackpool, initially on loan, in 2019 before making the move permanent. Another loanee, who came to us in the previous season and scored a goal direct from a corner against Derby in that 4-4 draw, is Reece James. He signed for Blackpool in the summer. We had had him on loan from Man Utd, but he has since played for Wigan, Sunderland and Doncaster.

In the other direction this summer, came Ollie Turton to our lovely Town. He played 165 games in the Tangerine shirt over a four year period, after starting out with Crewe.

One player who was quite a success at both clubs was Gary Taylor-Fletcher. He signed for us from Lincoln City in 2005, after previously playing and scoring for the Imps in our Play Off semi final meeting the year before. His first Town goals came in the form of a second half hat trick in the League Cup at Saltergate, in a 4-2 win over Chesterfield. He netted 15 times in that first season, including one down at Chelsea in the FA Cup and then his final goal of the campaign at Oakwell as we beat Barnsley in the first leg of the Play Off semis. We won't dwell on that.
He scored 11 in the next season. One of them was the 500,000th goal in the Football League, an absolute beauty it was too, in a 3-0 win against Rotherham Utd at the John MacAlpharm.
But then at the end of the season, he was surprisingly sold to Championship side Blackpool for an undisclosed fee. He stayed there for six seasons, one of them in the Prima Donna League after he helped them get there in 2010. That was through the Play Offs and GTF scored the second goal of their 3-2 Wembley win over Cardiff.
He followed that by scoring on his PL debut as the Seaside Donkeys whupped the Wigan Piemen 4-0 at the DW Stadium. He scored another famous goal in the Tangerine in January as they came from behind to beat Liverpool 2-1 at Bloomfield Road and then in the final match of the season he scored to put them 2-1 up at Old Trafford. It would turn out to be his final PL match though as the Mancky tossers came back to win 4-2 and send the Seasiders down.
Well not quite his final PL match. He did have one more when he left Blackpool for Leicester and helped them win the Championship. He scored in the match at our ground that secured promotion when they beat us 2-0. That one last Prima Donna game came at Stamford Bridge against Chelsea, but after playing in an embarrassing League Cup defeat at home to Shrewsbury, he was shipped out to Sheffield Wednesday and then Millwall on loan. And that was just about it. Tranmere, Accrington and then playing out his days in the Welsh League before retiring in 2019.

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And then we have Captain Fantastic himself, the running through brick walls legend Peter Clarke. Now 39 years old and in his twenty third season as a professional player, he has been Player of the Season seven times at his various clubs, including twice with the Town and once at Blackpool.
He started out with Everton and as a young un, played 9 games for them in the Premier League. Steve McMahon then took him on loan to Blackpool and he scored twice on his home debut. That was back in 2002, but despite McMahon's desire to sign him permanently, he returned to Goodison before going out on loan again to Port Vale and then Coventry.
In 2004, new Blackpool manager Colin Hendry signed Peter from Everton for the bargain price of £150,000. At the end of that season he picked up his first of those POTS awards after helping the Seasiders avoid relegation from League One. He had one more season there, playing in all 46 league games, but rejected a new contract offer at the end of the season and left to play for Championship new boys Southend Utd.
He couldn't keep them up though and so the following season he was back in League One. They made the Play Offs, but lost to Donny Rovers in the semis. His final season at Roots Hall saw him win another POTS award and also score a last minute equaliser in the FA Cup against Chelsea.
His career then reached it's pinnacle when he signed for Huddersfield Town in 2009. His debut came back at Roots Hall as the new skipper and inspired his new team mates to come back from 0-2 down to draw 2-2. His first Town goal came the following week in that 7-1 win at home to Brighton and he finished the season once again as Player of the Season.
He won POTS again in the next one as well as the PFA Fans League One Player of the Season. But just like the previous season, we failed in the Play Offs. It was third time lucky though. He scored the first penalty in the shoot out at Wembley against Sheffield United, after we had missed our first three. His roaring celebration to the fans after burying his spot kick was an inspiration for his team mates who went on to score all their other pens to win it 8-7.
He had a couple of seasons with us in the Championship, but after suffering a knee injury, that knob head Mark Robins let him go. His last appearance was in that cracking, end of season 4-1 win at Watford, coming on as a sub for another knob head, Anthony Gerrard.
So he went back and signed for Blackpool. It was that disastrous season for them though, the one that ended in relegation and that stupid end of season match against us. Manager Lee Clark had offered him a new contract, but when he was sacked, Peter was also let go.
That was in 2015, but six years on from that, he's still playing. He went to Bury, became their POTS, then to Oldham and won it twice with them. Then to Fleetwood for half a season, before signing on with Tranmere in January 2020. He was relegated with them as Rovers were in the bottom 4 when Covid struck, but Peter did make another Wembley appearance as they made the EFL Trophy Final, but lost 0-1 against Sunderland. Last season they made the Play Offs and Clarkey became the oldest player to score in the Play Offs when he headed home against Morecambe, but they lost anyway.
Great career. Great player. Great bloke.

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Clarkey played for two managers who have managed both us and them. Simon Grayson and Lee Clark. They aren't the only ones to have managed both either. Old turnip bonce himself, Stan Ternent was appointed manager at Bloomfield Road in 1979, his first managing job. He didn't last long and was sacked early in 1980 which was at the time Blackpool's shortest managerial reign. His time at Town was very similar. He managed 22 games for them and 18 for us before he became the first manager sacked by Dean Hoyle. In between those two appointments, he did actually have a decent managerial career, particularly at Bury and Burnley.

One match England boss, Sam Allardyce, who had one season playing for Town in the mid 80s, managed Blackpool from '94 to '96. In that time, he signed the mild mannered centre back Andy Morrison from Blackburn. Big Sam described Morrison as a "horrible in-your-face" centre-back and a "complete nutter" according to his Wiki page.  Laugh

Others to have played for both include Play Off penalty shoot out winning keeper Paul Rachubka. Ian Hughes from that same side, but was injured before the Play Offs. He had won the Play Offs a couple of seasons earlier with the Tangerines.

Keigan Parker was also a Blackpool Play Off winner before he came to us and was on the whole, let's say disappointing. Ishmael Miller was a bit of a cult at Town. He came to us after a short stint at Blackpool, but he had previously won the Championship twice, once with the Baggies and once with QPR.

Tom Ince played for us in the Premier League and was much better than his scoring record would suggest. Earlier, he had had three seasons at the seaside after joining them from Liverpool.

Peter Doherty I mentioned in the Derby match thread. He was one of the finest footballers of the pre and post second world war eras, playing for Blackpool in the 30s and us in the 40s.

I'll finish with a proper club legend that some of you may not have heard of as it was a long time ago. Tom Wilson played 500 matches for Town, leaving him second on our appearances record behind Billy Smith. The first of those matches was the opening game of the famous 1919/20 campaign, in a 2-1 win at home to Clapton Orient. He played centre half and soon became the regular choice, winning promotion in that first season, along with an FA Cup runners up medal.
He would go on to skipper the side during the three Football League Champions seasons and also captain the side in three more FA Cup Finals, including the victory over Preston in 1922.
He only missed four matches in the three first division title winning seasons, but eventually lost his place in the side to Alf Young and made his last appearance for the mighty Blue n Whites in a goal less draw at home to Everton in 1931 before transferring to Blackpool, where he made 18 appearances in that season. He retired at the end of it and came back to Leeds Road as trainer.
Despite only ever winning one cap for England, Tommy was so famous that he had a waxwork of him made by Madame Tussauds before the 1930 FA Cup Final against Arsenal. He left Town in 1939 when the war started and joined Barnsley as trainer when it ended. Sadly he died soon after at the age of just 51.

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Blackpool in popular culture: Blackpool is famous for it's instantly recognisable Tower, which heralds many a holidaygoer to the seaside and has done so since 1894. For the princely sum of sixpence, you can ride all the way to the top! If however, you don't have a head for heights, you can go lower down to the Tower Circus or for a quick step around the dancefloor at the famous Tower Ballroom.

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There were rumours during the Second World War that Adolf Hitler wanted to have his base after the invasion in the Tower. Who does he think he's kidding? As you can see from this exclusive actual footage of the Planning Committee, old Adolf hated the place.


Well he may not have been a fan, but Amelia and I really loved our holiday there. Here's a glimpse of our film we made with our cine camera.


There are many an entertainer who were born in the town, most notably folk singer Maddy Prior, Graham Nash of the Hollies, Chris Lowe of the Pet Shop Boys and Robert Smith of The Cure.

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Pet Shop Boy Chris Lowe

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Robert Smith of the Cure




'ow to get theere an' wheere to sup: Catch the tram and get off at Manchester Square. Then walk up Lytham Road, turn left onto Lonsdale Road and then onto Seasiders Way. The stadium will be on your left.

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Not sure about pubs. It's a quiet little town without much scope for a few beers. Whistle

Only kidding! If you want to get rat arsed and be arrested for drunken disorderly waaaaaaaay before kick off time, one of the best places you can go is the Bierkeller, where you will be served steins of lager and underestimate it's strength and end up doing things that you're glad mobile phones with cameras and videos haven't been invented yet.  Blush

Thankfully I don't remember much else about that particular stag do. Sick But that's beside the point. I've no idea which pubs in Blackpool are fashionable these days. On match day, just listen for one that has Town fans singing outside. You'll know where the action is. Tongue

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Other Championship matches this midweek:

Tuesday:
Blackburn Rovers v Hull City
AFC Bournemouth v Queens Park Rangers
Sheffield United v Preston North End
Reading v Peterborough United
West Bromwich Albion v Derby County

Wednesday:
Birmingham City v Fulham
Bristol City v Luton Town
Coventry City v Cardiff City
Nottingham Forest v Middlesbrough
Stoke City v Barnsley
Swansea City v Millwall

Recent form - last 6 matches:

Town are 8th with 10 points. Blackpool are 19th with 5.

Stoke 2-1 Town
Town 4-0 Reading
Town 1-2 Everton (EFL Cup)
Sheff Utd 1-2 Town
Town 1-0 Preston
Town 1-5 Fulham

Blackpool 1-0 Fulham
Millwall 2-1 Blackpool
Blackpool 2-3 Sunderland (EFL Cup)
Bournemouth 2-2 Blackpool
Blackpool 0-1 Coventry
Blackpool 0-2 Cardiff

Leading scorers:

Terriers:
Matty Pearson (2)

Tangerines:
Shayne Lavery (4)
Josh Tenpin-Bowler (2)


September the 14th down the ages: How did we get on in previous matches played on this date?

1912: Bradford Park Avenue (h) Div 2, WON 2-0 (James Howie, Thomas Elliott)
1918: Sheffield United (h) Wartime League, WON 1-0 (Crowther)
1926: Sunderland (h) Div 1, drew 0-0
1929: Leeds United (h) Div 1, WON 1-0 (Harry Davies)
1935: Derby County (h) Div 1, drew 1-1 (Jimmy Richardson)
1938: Sunderland (h) Div 1, lost 0-1
1940: Leeds United (a) Wartime League, lost 2-5 (Billy Price, Billy Hayes)
1946: Blackburn Rovers (h) Div 1, lost 0-1
1949: Charlton Athletic (a) Div 1, drew 2-2 (Arnold Rodgers 2)
1957: Notts County (a) Div 2, drew 1-1 (Alex Bain)
1960: Sheffield United (h) Div 2, lost 0-1
1963: Charlton Athletic (a) Div 2, lost 2-5 (Len White, Derek Stokes)
1966: Lincoln City (a) League Cup, lost 1-2 (Tony Leighton)
1968: Cardiff City (h) Div 2, WON 3-0 (Frank Worthington 2, Colin Dobson)
1974: Chesterfield (h) Div 3, WON 2-0 (Bobby Hoy 2)
1976: Southport (h) Div 4, WON 1-0 (Steve Smith)
1979: Scunthorpe United (a) Div 4, drew 1-1 (Brian Stanton)
1982: Doncaster Rovers (a) League Cup, WON 1-0 (Malcolm Brown)
1985: Sheffield United (a) Div 2, drew 1-1 (David Cork)
1991: Bury (a) Div 3, drew 4-4 (Iwan Roberts 2, Phil Starbuck 2)
1993: Port Vale (h) Division Two (3rd tier), drew 1-1 (Iain Dunn)
1999: Notts County (h) League Cup, WON 2-1 (Clyde Wijnhard, Marcus Stewart)
2002: Northampton Town Division Two (3rd tier), drew 0-0
2013: Doncaster Rovers (h) Championship, drew 0-0


Well we've won more than we've lost. Winning eight and losing six, with quite a lot of draws. Ten of them to be precise. On a positive note, we haven't conceded this century on this date. We have't scored one either though, with the only two games since the year 1999 ending goal less. Sticking with being positive, we haven't lost on this date since 1966. And we haven't lost a league match on this date since 1963. Thumb up

James Howie, who scored in 1912 against Park Avenue, was a Scotsman who spent the majority of his career at Newcastle, winning three league titles and an FA Cup with them. He came to us at the back end of his playing days and went on to manage QPR and Middlesbrough. He was a striker and scored 18 goals for us.

Jimmy Richardson, who scored against Derby in 1935, was another forward who came to us from Newcastle. Whilst there, he became involved in one of the most infamous FA Cup Final incidents of the time. It was the 1932 Final against Arsenal and was known as the "over the line final", for want of a more catchy title. Arsenal were one up when Richardson chased the ball down the wing and crossed for Jack Allen to equalise. In those long gone days when VAR was just a fragment of someone's imagination, it turned out with photographic evidence after someone had been to Boots the Chemist to get them developed, that the ball had crossed the line before he crossed it. Keep up, liner!
The Geordies went on to win 2-1 and Jimmy had a winners medal. A couple of years later he joined Town and scored 32 goals for us.

Billy Hayes, who scored against Leeds in 1940, was a defender, born in Cork, but grew up in Sheffield. He was one of just a handful of players to represent both Northern Ireland and the Republic as well. Having grown up in Sheffield, he also played for the England schoolboys team. He played 195 times for Town, not including his wartime games and would obviously have played many more but for yond pillock with the silly little tash.

The goal Alex Bain scored against Notts Co in 1957, was one of eleven he scored for us. Two of the others were in a famous match at the Valley when Town blew a 5-1 lead to lose 7-6 against Charlton.  Doh

Brian Stanton scored on his Town debut on this date in 1979, in what turned out to be a great season, ending with us lifting the 4th Division champions trophy. The game was a 1-1 draw at Scunthorpe's Old Showground and was the last time we ever played there. And it was one of only a couple of games I missed that season and so I never saw Town play there. Stanton went on to become a Town legend, winning promotion twice and scoring 45 times, four of them in one match against Bradford City in 1983.

The League Cup wins in 1982 against Donny and 1999 against Notts County were seasons when we had a decent Cup run for a change. The 1982 campaign was the one with the famous David Cowling goal at Bellend Road, before eventually going out to Arsenal in Round 4. The 1999 one was also a 4th round exit, after a famous win down at Stamford Bridge when Kenny Irons scored an absolute screamer, only to go out to Wimbledon, who were in the Premier League at the time, but it was still a massive disappointment after beating Chelsea previously.

The game at Gigg Lane in 1991 against Bury was another famous match, as we came back from 0-4 down just before half time to get a draw. The daft kid who you can just about see running on the pitch after our fourth goal goes in is apparently a young Dean Hoyle. I missed this one, coming back from a Cornwall holiday and listening in disbelief as the scores came on the radio on 5 Live.



Blackpool Anagrams: some football related, some not.

  1. Alan Tweets Myths 
  2. Florida Bloomed 
  3. Austin Million 
  4. Ashton Grit 
  5. Lionel Trout 
  6. Reusable Peach 
  7. Tripe Horn 
  8. Ethnic Cyrille 
  9. Marlboro Towel 
  10. Sony Wooten 


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RE: HTFC away at Blackpool - theo_luddite - 12-09-2021

I feel like I've just walked to Lancashire and back reading that. Walking to and from the Bet365 on the canal bank from and to the station was enough on Saturday. It's only a slightly shorter walk to Bloomfield Road from Blackpool North. It's only 10 minutes from Blackpool South but good luck with those trains from Preston.

I need some points on Tuesday (and Wednesday) as much as Town do - funny how this division works some weekends isn't it? I mean, Blackpool beating Fulham? Who but the drunkest of Blackpool (or even Fulham) fans would have bet on that one?
PS
2. Bloomfield Road, can't see any so far that translate into Blackpool Rock, Blackpool Tower or Candy Floss, there is however
9. Tower Ballroom and
6. looks like it might be Pleasure Beach, so who's up for a quick whiz round The Grand National?

I can see a few more but I'll let you others have a guess at the bright lights.

PPS - the free tickets for Town fans were if Blackpool Supporters got a controlling interest in the club. As far as I'm aware, they don't have that, but they did get rid of the crooks that had been in charge at the time.

RE: HTFC away at Blackpool - ritchiebaby - 12-09-2021

Well, 7 must be North Pier and did the invaaaalid scooter (or is it invaliddd) guy try to find his way to Bellend Road a few weeks back and do the Bierkeller serving wenches show their double tops when ...... - no, maybe not go down that road.

RE: HTFC away at Blackpool - jjamez - 13-09-2021

Apparently it's on red button tomorrow, anyone know how to get red button on sky Go?

RE: HTFC away at Blackpool - Lord Snooty - 13-09-2021

Is Sky Go still a thing? I thought they'd stopped it. But I only think that because they never advertise it anymore. I used to use it when we first got Sky and found it irritating with all the stoppages.

RE: HTFC away at Blackpool - jjamez - 13-09-2021

Also Stanley Matthews

RE: HTFC away at Blackpool - theo_luddite - 13-09-2021

https://helpforum.sky.com/t5/Sky-Go-Apps/How-do-i-watch-the-red-button-on-sky-go/td-p/3051444

RE: HTFC away at Blackpool - jjamez - 13-09-2021

Good stuff, I can bang it on the computer then tomorrow. Ta theo

RE: HTFC away at Blackpool - theo_luddite - 13-09-2021

Seemed to be some to and fro from that info jjamez but it looks like it will work on a laptop. Whether you can Chromecast that might be another matter. I've got a Now TV deal through BT so I'm going to have to see if I can get it too. Think I watched a match earlier this season so it should work.

RE: HTFC away at Blackpool - jjamez - 13-09-2021

Think it's basically saying I can watch it on computer or smart phone/tablet just not on Xbox or playstation