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I remember a line in the press release from Blackpool FC announcing the appointment of Ian Evatt as manager which said 'He holds an eye-catching record in the game, with a near 50% win ratio across his 350 games as a manager.' When he arrived we were bottom with 2 wins, 3 draws and 8 defeats from 13 games. With another 33 games to go, it was reassuring to think that if his win ratio continued at 50% then that would be 16 victories which would see us push well clear of relegation. Not including the cup competitions, so far Evo's record has been true to form. 6 games played, 3 wins, 1 draw and 2 defeats and there is your 50%. In perspective, those first 13 games under Bruce/Dobbie (sorry to tar you with the same brush Dobs) we accrued...

Article by @Sadler's Brylcreem It's been an interesting couple of weeks since Steve Bruce's departure. Whether or not Simon Sadler saw a raft of potential managers or if Ian Evatt was always Heir apparent we'll never know but I'm glad we had two weeks of frenzied speculation and a plethora of names thrown in to the mix. Richie Wellens, was always a long shot, because of the cost involved, Matt Bloomfield always felt a bit out of the frying pan and in to the fire for both parties, Leam Richardson would have been an underwhelming choice and as tempted as he might have been the sight of Neil Critchley back at Bloomfield Road would have been as unpalatable as Prince Andrew at an Under 18's disco. In the end, Evo was the obvious choice and...

So the Bruce era is over and I, for one, am sorry. Not because I loved his football, his team selections or his formations but because I enjoyed having a genuinely decent man at the helm at Bloomfield Road. The fact that no one has said anything untoward about the man's character or intent speaks volumes. However, I was ready for him to pick up his P45 after Northampton away and have actually been quite surprised that he lasted another 5 games (despite ironically winning two of those games). So what went wrong? How did a manager who was widely welcomed to the club, and that in itself with such an eclectic mix of fans is no mean feat, end up leaving just over a year after arriving. For me, the problems started well before a ball was...

I once went to watch an Am Dram performance of Grease as a friend was working backstage. In fairness, the two actors playing Danny and Sandy were pretty decent however the men playing the T Birds couldn't hold a tune in a bucket between them. All the talk later was not of the two brilliant lead actors but of the tone deaf T-Birds. In many ways, I worry that is where we are at this season at Bloomfield Road. On paper, we have one of the most talented squads for some years. Niall Ennis, Dale Taylor, Tom Bloxham, George Honeyman, Albie Morgan, Jordan Brown and now Josh Bowler could all grace a club in the higher league. The new lad Scott Banks looks like he has plenty of potential and Ash Fletcher is proven at this level, CJ Hamilton still...

At the end of last season if you'd told any Blackpool fan that over summer we would recruit Fraser Horsfall, Michael Ihiewke, Danny Imray, George Honeyman, Jordan Brown, Emil Hanson, Malcolm Ebiowei, Niall Ennis and Dale Taylor then most would have considered it a job well done. There are still a couple of gaps and losing Offiah, Baggot, Carey and Apter undoubtedly meant there are big holes to fill. However, we have a players coming in who can create an attacking side which complements the likes of Bloxham, Evans, Morgan, Hamilton and Fletcher and those players look like they could seriously compete at this level. However, there is a bloody big elephant in the room and it has stampeded all the way through our opening two fixtures! The...

There's something in the air in Blackpool and it's not the smell of the tourist's cheap Lynx deodorant or the aroma from the hot donut stands. Instead it's an air of, dare I say, confidence being emitted from Bloomfield Road. Let me take you back 12 months. Having been through the Oyston years and NAPM, Blackpool fans will forever know the true feelings of despair and anger and so our frustration since the Championship defeat feels almost 'privileged'. However, since that relegation, which I maintain could have been so easily avoided starting with the managerial appointments, and then the Critchley return season and the frustration of the last 12 months there has felt an all too familiar 'same old Blackpool feeling about the place...

December 5th was the last time I wrote about Steve Bruce and it actually seems a lifetime ago. We'd just beaten Shrewsbury away and at the time I wrote: The ironic thing is that since then we have Played 22 Won 9 Drawn 10 Lost 3. If you'd have told me back then that we would only lose 3 of the following games (one to Wrexham with the worst penalty decision I've ever seen and one to Leyton Orient where we had a ridiculous amount of chances to bury the game), I'd have said you were mad. At that point we'd lost 7 of our 18 games and the season seemed to be running away from us. Had this been the start to our season we could have looked at about 80 points based on those results - maybe not enough to get us automatically promoted, but more...

It's 3 months now since I wrote that article on Steve Bruce and what a confusing three months those have been. His devastating news about his Grandson threw the whole club off course for a month whilst before then and since we have been plagued by injuries, suspensions and if I'm honest some players that even the best coach in the world wouldn't be able to get consistency out of. Since his appointment he's actually been in the dug out for 10 league games winning 6, drawing 1, losing 3. Of course the results whilst he was away are what has dented us and whilst football can never be a game of 'what if's', you do wonder had events not taken such a tragic turn and if he had been here since the start of the season and had a chance to bring...

“Why have you got rid of Neil Critchley?” is a question I’ve been asked many times in the last month, usually with a reply of “where do I start …” In many ways, it was an easy question to answer. Critch was a marked man from the moment he returned and unless he started playing exciting football with 3 points at the end of each game, he was never going to win over a dubious Blackpool fanbase. I actually felt quite sorry for him in the end as he was a decent man who should have heeded the advice ‘never go back'. Since last week, the whole Critchley affair has been quickly replaced with “Why have you got Steve Bruce?”. I’ll be honest, this one has been more difficult to answer. Why have we got Steve Bruce? His name hadn’t cropped up, he’d...

Going a season with the same manager is somewhat of a luxury for football clubs these days. Only 48 of the 92 EPL and EFL Managers have been in their job for 12 months or more and you can guarantee that will drop to below 40 by the end of the year. Cricthley had ridden to the heady heights of the 43rd longest serving manager on that list with a season and 89 days under his belt. However, those 454 days were anything but plain sailing. What every new manager needs is that 'bounce'. Fans excited by the appointment, anticipation of what sort of manager they will be and the intrigue as to how they will play their side. Critchley didn't get any of that. In fact last August was a damp squib month where we felt like Bobby Ewing coming out of...

Not sure about everyone else but at 4.50pm on a Saturday, even in the Summer, I start to look at my watch. It's a bit like when you're on holiday and you still wake up at 7am. 4.50pm usually means the dying embers of a game - either holding on or hoping for that last minute winner/equaliser. Of course thanks to the new Sky deal, 4.50pm on the opening day will be as uneventful as the last 13 weeks due to the late kick off and so how will we be feeling by just after 7.15pm on Saturday night? The first day of the football season is a weird old affair. Win and you study the table meticulously, despite only being one result, lose and you won't be buying a Sunday newspaper. When it was announced that Crawley was our first game I had a bit of...

Expect the well oiled manager expression 'there's no easy fixtures in this league' to be trotted out for the next 11 months as League One gets underway in just 6 weeks time. For once, they might actually have a valid point. With Birmingham, Rotherham and Huddersfield joining from the Championship and the likes of high spending Wrexham and ambitious Stockport promoted from League Two, this division next season looks tougher than ever. Throw in last season's Play Off sides Bolton, Peterborough and Barnsley plus the improved Charlton, Reading and Wigan and the league will undoubtedly have a top half and bottom half next season with those 11 sides and hopefully Blackpool vying it out for the top spots. There was a feeling that last...

If I'd spent millions to keep a football club alive, upgrade the ground, invest in the squad and be planning further costly improvements, I think I would be somewhat perturbed by some of the comments following last week's fans forum. "I'm sick of you", "one arrogant owner", "Fcuk off", "a cock" and "bell end" to name just some of the comments I read on AVFTT. Imagine investing a sizeable amount of your own money in to a club, only to be told by a small section of their fans that you can stick your money where the sun doesn't shine. Having been lauded by 'Pool fans, had his name sung out loud, been called the saviour and having rescued the club from an uncertain future, Simon Sadler has now seen the ugly side of being a football owner...

I’m struggling to think of a less memorable season than the 23/24 one. It was a bit like a Boxing match where no one lands a punch, watched by an increasingly frustrated crowd and the points decision at the end suits no one. I say this as someone who attended 36 games last season. The Bolton cup tie, the away win at Barnsley, the home wins against Wigan and Stevenage, and the FA Cup match against Forest stir some memories but otherwise it was not necessarily a season to forget, it was just instantly forgettable. If the relegation and the season before was a kick in the teeth, the return of Neil Critchley was a kick further down. Whatever you think of him as a coach, a manager or as a person, Simon Sadler should have realised whatever...

When Simon Grayson fell on his sword after serving up just 13 wins in 38 games and boring the Bloomfield Road faithful rigid, Simon Sadler had the unenviable task of finding a new manager. Looking back at AVFTT at the time names like Nathan Jones, Ian Evatt, Karl Robinson, Richie Wellens, David Dunn, Steve Thompson and even Diego Simeone were talked about (the latter very much tongue in cheek). Looking back all would have done a decent job, however Simon decided to go in a direction that took everyone by surprise in appointing Neil Critchley. Having signed a three and a half years deal, fans were intrigued as to what the new man could serve up. Fans had been bereft of any sort of connection with a manager after NAPM and this felt like...