I get what you’re saying Lyth, I think the problem is that after the struggles we had when we were in the grip of the old perverts hands, we were a basket case club and all we really wanted was to get rid of the verminous scum, and somehow in that journey we managed to get in the EPL nearly stay there and had a good go at getting back there amongst all the surreal stuff going on around it, we then had the boycott and the court case, we were even happy to be non league to get rid of them,. Apart from the mushrooms it was an incredible journey of togetherness that culminated in that great day in court (weeks in court) where we were finally rid of them and suddenly the future was actually super positive.
Now, I was expecting a long feel good factor, years in fact but somehow our saviour came in the form of a steady hand but with his managerial appointments and sensitivity to any form of criticism that the feel good factor disappeared pretty quickly because it became so grey and blah and 5 years on we are in the same place in the football pyramid with a team who are going to finish mid table in league 1.
Season ticket sales are really decent, home crowds are better than expected yet there is no show of ambition from Sadler, he’s plodding along and the feeling you get from the club is that we should be thankful we are a league 1 club. Fuck that! You look at yesterday, 4000 home fans, a non league ground, a team of sloggers, are we better than that? Yes we really are! We are Blackpool FC, the only club to play in tangerine, why shouldn’t we be ambitious and want to be successful? Why aren’t we hearing that from the owner, the manager? It’s because they are probably 2 of the dullest people in football. Ambition isn’t employing Grayson, Critchley x 2, Appleton and McCarthy for fucks sake, that’s naivety and actually a bit condescending. 5 years on, no East Stand and no training ground, the training ground won’t happen for years if at all and the Easr stand is still sometime off.
Are we entitled? I don’t think so. Were we expecting more after the famous court case? Absolutely. Has it been what we were hoping for? I’d say not, which is why so many supporters are not entirely happy. We will never be anything other than a league 1 side with the likes of Critchley managing the club and with an owner who struggles with being a football club owner rather than a successful hedge fund person.
Should we be thankful for what he’s done? To a point, yes, but all this, he’s pumping in 5 million a year of his own money we should be thankful is all well and good, but let’s be realistic here, he got the club at a bargain price and no person who buys a football club does it thinking they are going to do anything but put their own money into the club, most owners in the EFL would probably love to put 5 million in a year. Before people start saying, well put your own money in, that isn’t relevant none of us can afford to do it and Sadler went into this with his eyes wide open. He can afford it, he would have researched it and made a decision on that knowing he was always going to lose money. However his investment has a return and when he comes to sell, which he will, he will make a tidy profit and good luck to him.
Entitled? Nah, underwhelmed? Very much so.