Oh I do like to be beside the seaside – well, at least we will like it if we can come away with a much needed 3 points to help us bounce back from our last couple of disappointing results and displays. This weekend sees our much travelled Bluebirds make the long trek North (again), this time though to head North-East to the lovely coastal town of Blackpool (well, I say lovely, perhaps if comparing Blackpool to one of the beached in Gaza – let’s face it, it ain’t no Barry Island is it?). Who Are You? Founded in 1887, Blackpool formerly played their home games at Raikes Hall and the Athletic Grounds before moving settling at Bloomfield Road in 1901. Founder members of the Lancashire League in 1889 they were invited into the Football League Second Division in 1896. After gaining promotion in 1937 the club entered a golden period under the stewardship of long-time manager Joe Smith. After losing both the 1948 and 1951 FA Cup finals, they would go on to win the cup in 1953 in the so-called "Matthews final", in which they beat our last league opponents Bolton Wanderers 4–3, overturning a 3–1 deficit in the closing stages of the game (fancy all of us cup winners now languishing in the lower leagues eh?). During the 1950s they managed 4 top-six finishes in the top flight, achieving their best ever position of 2nd as runners-up to Manchester United in the 1955–56 season. Notably, in 1956, Stanley Matthews became the inaugural recipient of the Ballon d'Or (unlike one of our loan players who gets a mention later for a different Balloon incident). Tough times lay ahead however, during the tumultuous years under the ownership of the Oyston family the club dropped down into the bottom division of the league. Of course, as we know much to our own pain, those hard times wouldn’t last forever with Blackpool again reaching the Premier League in 2010, after becoming the first club to gain promotion from every division of the Football League via the play-off system. I struggled to find details for that 2010 final win, weird that…. Onto current times, having struggled under the wasp chewing Steve Bruce, Blackpool parted ways with the former Man Utd bruiser and appointed former player and Bolton Manager Ian Evatt (who was also a consideration for our own hotseat if rumours are true). Evatt only took up the role jus over 2 weeks ago but has already started to improve the struggling clubs fortunes with the club picking up back to back wins since his appointment. Notable squad members include Keeper Bailey Peacock-Farrell (on loan from Birmingham, formerly of dirty Leeds), former Sunderland midfielder Geroge Honeyman, ex-Middlesborough striker Ashley Fletcher and former Bluebird loanee winger Josh Bowler. First And Last Our first ever meeting with the Seasiders resulted in a thumping 2-4 win for the City in a 2nd division game way back in November 1920. Our goals that day were scored by Jimmy Gill, George West, Arthur Cashmore and on OG from Lawrie Baker in front of 10,000 fans at Bloomfield Road. As has been previously mentioned, this season was our first ever in the football league with us having been voted into the 2nd division. We’d go on to have a tremendous season, finishing 2nd behind Champions Birmingham City (losing out on the divisional title by goal average only) and pipping Bristol City to that 2nd spot by 7 points. As well as sealing promotion to the top division at the first time of asking, we also made it to the FA Cup Semi Final, eventually losing to Wolves in a replay played out at Old Trafford. George West - excellent at burying the ball - not to be confused with Fred West who's burial skills were very different Our last league meeting with Blackpool was a resounding 1-3 victory on the road for the Bluebirds played out in front of 13,462 fans at Bloomfield Road in a 2023 Championship match. City eased (or should that be postponed?) their relegation fears by turning over fellow relegation candidates Blackpool with goals from Sory Kaba and Joe Ralls after on loan striker Conor Wickham had the first ‘laugh’ by opening the scoring for the Bluebirds following a controversial week where he’d been disciplined for messing about and having a ‘gas’ with his mates. City of course would go on to survive the drop that year following Reading’s demise and Blackpool joined the Royals on that drop along with Wigan Athletic. Form Blackpool come into this one on their best run of form all season, experiencing a bit of a new manager bounce (with typically good timing for us!). Having not won a game since a 1-0 home win over Barnsley back in September (their only other win) they have recorded 2 wins on the spin with recent victories against Peterborough (2-1 away) and Scun#horpe (1-0 at home). Sitting 23rd in the division it must be said their home form isn’t dreadful, managing 2 wins & 3 draws from 7 games. That record still places them as the 20th best home side though. They have the joint 3rd worst attack in the division having scored just 13 times in 14 games, but ominously for us Bluebirds, their scoring record is shared with Burton (I’m still suffering a bit of PTSD from that one). Defensively they fare little better having the joint 3rd worst defence having shipped 22 goals in those 14 games. In fact, taking just home form, they have the worst home defensive record in the division, seeing the ball hit the back of their net 11 times in 7 games (though we ourselves have managed to ship 9 in that time so we aren’t too far behind them!). On The Pitch It seems like we are entering a period where we’re starting to pick up a few knocks which could seriously impact our small squad. Will Fish is a major doubt for this one with Perry Ng also ruled out together with Chris Willock. Having seen some poor performances over our last 2 games, we could see BBM ring some changes but conversely, he has been very praiseworthy of the squad, stating publicly how impressed he has been with the levels achieved in training. Predicted Starting 11 Trott Bagan Lawlor Chambers Kpakio Wintle Robertson Colwill (R) Kellyman Ashford Salech The Odds Rather bizarrely we appear to be evens for this one. Given the swings in form of the 2 sides I have no idea how the bookies have come up with that but here we go. C’mon The City!!!!
Great preview as usual BB. Don't expect anything less. Bookies on the Jamaican jungle juice. I hope....
Fantastic yet again Brizzle. Can’t believe it’s 15 years since that play off defeat at Wembley. Hope we can turn them over tomorrow.
Nice stuff again Brizzo. I've got a feeling BBM will want to stick Osho back in the firing line as a soon as possible - maybe even for this one instead of Chambers.
A few injuries and our squad looks paper thin. BBM suggests to the media he’s happy with what he’s got but seriously can that be right? This division is City’s for the taking if he bolsters the squad in January. It’s asking a lot for this group of players to keep it going and staying fit and on form until next Spring. Tomorrow? I just hope he’ll put out a team with the right personnel and tactics to deal with the way League 1 teams have been setting up and squeezing the area in the opposition final third. We’re best when we’re on the front foot and driving forwards. None of this ball retention and passing to each other sideways; need to adopt more of the Corporal Jones tactics!
Etete did score. It isn't AI. https://tv.cardiffcityfc.co.uk/videos/5dd36831-8519-4252-90b2-c090f05a0c5b
He had an almost telepathic ability to find Chopra to put him on goal. Fabulous footballer. Suffered badly from some illnesses but still active in the game as Sporting Director of Shamrock Rovers.
