Forethoughts on the Championship Play-Off Final - Blackpool vs. West Ham United

Blackpool and West Ham United will step out at Wembley on Saturday to play in the hyperbolic richest game in football. Here is your match preview:

Four Thoughts on... Blackpool 1-0 Birmingham City

Blackpool took a lead in the first leg of their play-off semi-final with Birmingham City. It was nothing less than the Seasiders deserved following an excellent display at Bloomfield Road, although they may be frustrated that they were unable to make more of their dominance on the day. Here are my observations from the match:

Play-Off Retrospective - 2001

With Blackpool set to embark on yet another play-off campaign - the club's seventh in the last 21 years - it seems fitting to re-visit past adventures in the so-called end of season lottery. The first retrospective will focus on the 2000/2001 season when Blackpool won promotion from League Two after an eventful season.

A Response To The Response

Keen followers of the blog - I'm led to believe there are one or two of you out there - may have noticed a distinct lack of activity in recent weeks. My last post was a response to the publication of the club's most recent set of annual accounts, where I outlined 10 questions that should be answered by the Oyston family. 

My inactivity since then has been for a variety of reasons. Posting about the football side has been limited by time, missing the odd game here and there, and to be honest more than a little apathy in the aftermath of the financial revelations. Results had done little to inspire either, with just one win in the last six including some very poor performances.

Away from the football, I had been reluctant to post more about the financial situation. There was still plenty more to say, but there was a feeling emerging that off-the-field disruption was starting to affect performances and results. How true that is remains unclear - players are after all highly-paid professionals who should be able to put paper talk to the back of their minds once crossing the white line. However, I was willing to let this case lie until our season is over, one way or the other.

Until now we had only heard brief snippets from Karl Oyston in reply to the stories that arose in the national and local press. Yet this Monday, the BBC broadcast an interview with the Blackpool chairman as part of their regional Late Kick Off programme, hosted by Tony Livesey. An extended version of this interview was then broadcast by Radio Lancashire on Tuesday evening.

Needless to say I was far from impressed with comments made by Karl Oyston, and therefore I would like to respond to his response. Quotes displayed are accurate transcriptions from that interview, which can still be listened to until next Tuesday (3rd April).

10 questions that should be answered...

...but probably won't be. At least not satisfactorily.

Since the club's 2010/11 accounts were published last week it has been a topic that has dominated  debate in the usual outlets, and even making national headlines with a double page spread in the Mail on Sunday (and later coverage in the Guardian). Last year this blog sought to conduct a comprehensive analysis of the 2009/10 accounts, although in truth that wasn't entirely successful.

Rather than take a similar approach by dissecting the numbers in detail - much of which is already now publicly available anyway - we'll take a look at the fallout from the figures and the questions arising. It's unlikely Blackpool fans will get the answers they want to these questions, but if the club's owners are determined to build bridges and make amends for this PR disaster, then as much disclosure as possible based on these 10 questions would certainly help.

Season Visualiser - February Update

As we enter the final two months of the campaign, it's time to once more revisit the Season Visualiser to see if it can shed any light on our performance to date and how things might pan out between now and the end of the season.

Four Thoughts on... Blackpool 1-4 West Ham United

It was a bizarre night at Bloomfield Road and sadly for Blackpool it was a match for the visitors to savour as they lost 4-1 in strange circumstances against a strong West Ham side. Here are my observations from the game:

Forethoughts on... Blackpool vs. West Ham United

Blackpool welcome West Ham to Bloomfield Road tonight in a top of the table clash which could see 'Pool move within two points of their rivals with a win. Here's your match preview: