[Archived] Blackpool Versus Blackburn Rovers

[1864roverite]

Saturday 9th February 1980 saw the last league meeting between these two esteemed old greats of English football. Rovers, under the guidance of a true legend, Howard Kendall, were romping towards promotion from Division 3 whilst Blackpool were heading towards oblivion. This game, which Rovers won 2-0 with goals from another Rovers legend Noel "King of Ewood" Brotherston and Kendall himself in front of a crowd of over 14000,came at the front end of an amazing run of form in which Rovers won 14 and drew 1, a run which we can only ever dream of in modern times.Those fans who can recall this amazing time will remember the likes of Duncan Mckenzie, Kendall, Andy Crawford, Brotherston, Keeley, Garner, Jim arnold, Tony Parkes, Stuart Metcalfe, Joe Craig and Mick Rathbone. Supporters will also recall that year for a fantastic FA Cup run which began with an away day in Kidderminster (2-0), a 2nd round tie with Stafford (2-0), a 3rd round tie with Fulham (1-1 h and 1-0 a in the replay), a 4th round victory against a chocolate coloured kit waring Coventry (1-0) before we eventually narrowly lost to high flying Aston Villa after a tense replay at their ground. Worth noting that even back then Rovers were capable of home crowds of over 20000 for the Coventry match whilst over 29000 watched the Villa game.

Anyhow back to the game.

Blackpool, little old Blackpool, are living the dream. This time last year, as the sun advert states, they were favourites for relegation from The Championship. 9 months later, they won the play off final at Wembley and hey presto, they won their place in the top flight courtesy of some shrewd managment of a certain Ian Holloway.

My link

Whilst we mention him, we have to agree that Mr Holloway is king of the one liners. Here is what I mean:

"To put it in gentleman's terms if you've been out for a night and you're looking for a young lady and you pull one, some weeks they're good looking and some weeks they're not the best. Our performance today would have been not the best looking bird but at least we got her in the taxi. She wasn't the best looking lady we ended up taking home but she was very pleasant and very nice, so thanks very much, let's have a coffee".

If you're a burglar, it's no good poncing about outside somebody's house, looking good with your swag bag ready. Just get in there, burgle them and come out. I don't advocate that obviously, it's just an analogy.

Why haven't they got cameras? The officials can speak to each other easily enough now. Why aren't we using laptops that are linked up and can give a decision in five seconds? A chimpanzee could do it - with not much training. We might as well go back to being cavemen, grab our girl by the hair, drag her into the cave whether she wants to come in or not because we may as well live in that age. We've come forward, haven't we?.

I reckon the ball was travelling at 400mph, and I bet it burned the keeper's eyebrows off.”

You get the jist, he is a commentators dream.

His humourisms sort of mirror his team ethics. Blackpool have progressed into a tidy little outfit which is marshalled by Charlie Adam, a freescoring midfielder who has to be one of the best signings in recent years for a team venturing into the promised land of Premiership football. There are other players who are not household names but who seem to be able to respond to Holloway's managment style and who have done quite well since coming up. Recent results, a win at Wigan and Newcastle and a thumping at Chelsea show their inconsistency but its at BLOOMFIELD ROAD, that Rovers will have to be in their guard.

Now then, who can remember the old Bloomfield Road ?

Let me describe it, if you cross a mud pile, turd moor, the beach at north pier and a land fill site, that was their then football ground. Even on a summers day the wind howled and the spray from the oggin ground your face.

Out of that arose the new stadium.

My link

So, as we visit the seaside for a top flight game, what can Rovers expect ? Football wise its going to be a hard game. They will attack such is their mentality. It should be quite a decent atmosphere as Rovers become the first team to sell out the temporary stand making Bloomfield a 4-sided stadium once again. A derby that we havent featured in for 30 years should set the tone for a cracking game (or not).

Everyone knows that Blackpool offers entertainment of the highest calibre. After the football there is Joe Longthorne, The Gay Triangle, Funny Girls and whateveer else takes your fancy.

I looked at doing a section on players that have played for both clubs, its not that easy. Perhaps the best example would be Sir David Wagstaffe of Ewood Park, he played for Rovers before we sold him to the lashers only for him to rejoin Rovers the following season. Others include Alan Ainscow, Marlon Broomes, Russell Coughlin, Brett Ormerod, Ben Bugress, Peter Thorne and Vince OKeefe. Famous players for the lashers include Stan Mortenson, Jimmy Armfield, Alan Ball, Adam Blacklaw and Budgie Burridge.

Recent club liasons have seen the lashers managed by Colin Hendry and Tony Parkes. However, its our current manager Big Sam that has an historic link with Blackpool. In May 1996 Sam took Blackpool to a 3rd place finish in Division 2, a fantastic effort which just failed at the final hurdle. In true Oyston style, Sam got his p45 from Oystons prison cell where he was serving time for a not so nice recordable offence. If Big Sam ever needed motivation in ramming that issue down the throast of an Oysten then Saturday provides that opportunity.

I asked my mate from work, an avid lasher fan with absolutley no hostility to Rovers (mainly because he has never even seen Ewood apart from when we are on tv) what his prediction was. He wasnt able to answer any other questions due to the toffee apple stuck in his throat, the dodgy kebab in his hand, the pot of six legged shrimps in his pocket whilst hugging a candy floss to boot. He suggests that Rovers will lose 2-0 as Blackpool are formidable at fortress Bloomfield.

Me, well I am not sure on this. Rovers faced the dingles in a carbon copy match and won it comfortably. I am hoping for a win becuase back in 79, I was on the away end at Blackpool in September when we lost 2-1 and after an age, its pay back time for the blue and white halves.

The tangerine dream takes on some sense of reality with a 2-1 win for Rovers.

For the lucky 1900 or so Rovers fans going to the game, enjoy it. A word of advice, dont get on the big one having supped a few pints and stuffed yr face full of cheap fish and chips. It isnt real fish, it is cat and dog and you might just get a facial you wont enjoy

[SIMON GARNERS 194]

A hard fought and close victory for Rovers....PLEASE!!.

This is a first for me,I've never seen Rovers play Blackpool in a league game believe it or not.

1:2 M.Diouf, Benjani.

[Steve Moss]

Rovers 3-0 Blackpool

Our defense will be too strong for them and M. Diouf and Kalinic will both score 1 or more each.

[philipl]

Great preview!

Until that Kendal inspired win we had a pretty poor record away at Blackpool.

This one is all about our manager. After being out smarted by the last four in the opposition dug out, can he produce a convincing 90 minutes against Holloway? He undoubtedly has the better players to do it with.

This could be a high scoring one but I'll go for Sam to squeeze the life out of it in a 1-0 away win.

[Iceman]

cracking preview, brilliant, love it, awesome! Benjani and M Diouf to rip them apart. 3-0 Rovers

[Ewood Spark]

Until that Kendal inspired win we had a pretty poor record away at Blackpool.

Erm ... we actually got beat. 1-2. Seem to remember a lot of Scottish folk on the away end that day trying to inspire a sectarian fueled battle!

[philipl]

Sorry you are right Ewood Spark- I think we won at Bloomfield Road pre-season which I am confusing myself with.

Kendal scored in that defeat at Bloomfield with a magnificent header. One of the best football photos ever taken was of that goal and it used to hang in the old Hundred Club in the Nuttall Street Stand. Anyone got a copy of it?

[Ossydave]

Anyone know if they're serving ale in the ground with it being that ropey stand, or is it gonna be operation hipflask?

[Clitherover]

Great preview, Loving Ian Holloways one-liners, never heard them before!

To the game, I know it sounds a bit dramatic so early in the season, but this game is a must win.

2-0 Rovers

[Paul]

A draw would be a good result, though I won't be surprised if we lose this. Early season is not a good time to play recently promoted sides like Blackpool - they either get good early season results or slaughtered, I don't see Rovers slaughtering anyone at the moment. Looking forward to the day out as I've never been to Bloomfield Road.

[Sandiway Blue]

http://www.rovers.co.uk/page/NewsDetail/0,,10303~2160602,00.html

Now officially sold out....

[67splitscreen]

Thought we would be going into this game on a high after Fulham ........... not to be .....

Uneasy feeling about this game.

Fans to do us proud ....... Blackpool Tower still red oxide at 5 o'clock

2-1

[Hughesy]

"Almost 2000"? I thought the allocation was something like 2400!

1900

Mike Dean the ref - both home & away tickets ALL sold out

We have to play in their box as much as we can - they wont have come against our style before and they will struggle with it....3-1 Rovers

[cn174]

1900

Mike Dean the ref - both home & away tickets ALL sold out

We have to play in their box as much as we can - they wont have come against our style before and they will struggle with it....3-1 Rovers

They've been playing in the lower leagues for yonks, they'll be used to long ball tactics

[Sparky Marky]

Anyone know if they're serving ale in the ground with it being that ropey stand, or is it gonna be operation hipflask?

Hope the stands not like that one in Brazil that collapsed!!!...did anyone see that..?

[Hughesy]

They've been playing in the lower leagues for yonks, they'll be used to long ball tactics

Burnleys long ball tactics for instance are nowhere the same level of ours - surely you learned that last season when we beat them in both games?

Very few teams play with the same intense pressure in the box than us.....thats why alot of the bigger teams are starting to say how uncomfortable it is to play us.

[RIML]

In May 1996 Sam took Blackpool to a 3rd place finish in Division 2, a fantastic effort which just failed at the final hurdle. In true Oyston style, Sam got his p45 from Oystons prison cell where he was serving time for a not so nice recordable offence. If Big Sam ever needed motivation in ramming that issue down the throast of an Oysten then Saturday provides that opportunity.

Good preview.

My next-door neighbour has been supporting Blackpool for years and he told me about the play-off with Bradford, winning the first leg 2-0 but losing the second leg 3-0 (he said all 3 goals were goalkeeping errors too) He also mentioned that in the match-day programme they had printed directions to Wembley (tempting fate slightly) Maybe that Oyston guy just wanted an excuse to sack him.

I hope Sam gets one over on his old club. Hopefully the Blackpool players will have about 3 men marking Samba from set-pieces and Nelsen goes unnoticed to score from a corner

[TimmyJimmy]

Great work 1864, excellent read. Many memories of standing on the Riverside shouting on Noel, Duncan, Simon et al, happy days when matches were truly competitive and winnable, unlike the processions of today, hey ho.

Got to agree with brfc_ben, for me this is a must win. I get the sense that the wheels are coming off behind the scenes at Ewood, Sam's crazy talk in the papers, Nzonzi's public flogging, doesn't quite smell right somehow. Good fortune against Everton for three points coupled with some poor performances and 5 from 5 isn't where I expected us to be at this juncture. If we get bashed by Blackpool ... well batten down the hatches.

Blackpool will attack flat out of course which should help us because our one strength seems to lay with a very good defence. We have more problems when teams sit tight and hit on the break IMO. We have zero attacking quality in mid field so the two defending mids should make it difficult for Blackpool to score. We'll go long as usual and hopefully we get another break and go a goal up. That's the best I'm hoping for, a 0:1.

[BigJackWalker]

5-0

Kallanic 3

Benjani 1

MGP 1

Easy

[tony gale's mic]

Blackpool to take the lead but Rovers to come back and win it 2-1.

[OJRovers]

Mike Dean the ref

I would rate the chances of us getting a penalty at less that 0%!

[DanLad]

Famous players for the lashers include Stan Mortenson, Jimmy Armfield, Alan Ball, Adam Blacklaw and Budgie Burridge.

This chaps quite famous, as well...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanley_Matthews

[AHoyle90]

Gutted I couldnt get tickets for this, those thinking this is going to be easy are badly mistaken I'm afraid. Though I do think we will have too much for them, 2-0 Rovers I'm going. Samba from a set peice and Benjani

[Claytons Left Boot]

Apparently, there will be checks at the turnstiles for anyone trying to sneak in quantities of ammonia.

[Blueboy Downunder]

i am hoping that we can get 3 points with another solid away performance. i will be half way across the pond by kick off time, so i will have not a clue of the result until i get to my stopover in atlanta, hopefully they will have internet cafe's somewhere in the airport.

rovers to win 3-1, but to be far from a comfortable victory.