Play off coping strategies

voyeur

voyeur

Well-known member
We must all have them! 🤣

I'll be brutally honest and admit that I cope with the living hell of the playoffs by trying to convince myself that winning them is not really that important, in the grand scheme of things, worse things happen at sea, etc. I try to pretend it's just another game, and that there are more important things in my life, it'll be nice if we win, but it's not the be all and end all. I'll do all this while experiencing hypertension at a level where I feel my life is seriously at risk. I might die.

If I'm watching on tv I'll make a brew when the anxiety starts to get too much. I'll talk too much, I'll try to laugh at things. I might say a prayer in the kitchen to the god of lower league football, asking for deliverance, and a period in the championship. Prior to 2007 it was all too much, and that promotion did make everything since seem a little less critical. Didn't it? And we've had our moment in the sun, in 2010, and all that has reduced the desperate need we had for something good to happen for several decades. We haven't always been shit, we wowed the world for a few weeks...

But I'm already feeling my whole being beginning to struggle for oxygen and my mind is trying to rationalise what is about to happen, I'm pseudo meditating to try to stop it destroying my peace entirely, as a group of lads prepare to boot a ball about on my behalf. There'll be no calm for at least 2 weeks.

Do you have any coping strategies? Does anything work?
 
I tend to pace about on the day of the match. I'm going to get plenty of exercise on Friday.
 
I hate them.

So much so I've even not gone to Wembley on some occasions all because the drive back after the Torquay defeat was so deflating. The flip side is the Cardiff fame was something else yet I ended up so drunk I have forgotten it all 😂
 
voyeur said:
We must all have them! 🤣

I'll be brutally honest and admit that I cope with the living hell of the playoffs by trying to convince myself that winning them is not really that important, in the grand scheme of things, worse things happen at sea, etc. I try to pretend it's just another game, and that there are more important things in my life, it'll be nice if we win, but it's not the be all and end all. I'll do all this while experiencing hypertension at a level where I feel my life is seriously at risk. I might die.

If I'm watching on tv I'll make a brew when the anxiety starts to get too much. I'll talk too much, I'll try to laugh at things. I might say a prayer in the kitchen to the god of lower league football, asking for deliverance, and a period in the championship. Prior to 2007 it was all too much, and that promotion did make everything since seem a little less critical. Didn't it? And we've had our moment in the sun, in 2010, and all that has reduced the desperate need we had for something good to happen for several decades. We haven't always been shit, we wowed the world for a few weeks...

But I'm already feeling my whole being beginning to struggle for oxygen and my mind is trying to rationalise what is about to happen, I'm pseudo meditating to try to stop it destroying my peace entirely, as a group of lads prepare to boot a ball about on my behalf. There'll be no calm for at least 2 weeks.

Do you have any coping strategies? Does anything work?
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All of the above including not watching at all.
 
So nervous I don’t even know if I can watch it or listen to it on lancs . Just want to wake up in a couple of weeks and were in championship. Suppose to be working tomorow night but might pull a sicky and watch it on tv or listen on radio. Friday match though I’m sure a few pre match beers may calm my nerves . If any team deserves a bit of luck with all thatourfans have gone through with the oystons it’s us. Just wish we could all be there watching . Come on you pool .
 
It's the dashing from work tomorrow, sorting the kid's tea etc, 6.00pm is a stupid time. Still, doesn't give any time for nerves and build up, straight into the game pretty much.
 
So far this season, waiting until the last possible moment to tune in, I've dutifully paid my tenner to ifollow, watched as much as I can stand (usually about 15 minutes) then I begin my 'lucky' routine - this consists of putting some pies in the oven for half-time, cracking open a beer, then going into my back garden for a smoke. At this time, I try to decide whether watching the game close-up is any better than watching it from 60 feet away, and there have been mixed results.

I have, on several occasions, missed a goal while going through the routine, then spend an anxious 5-10 minutes trying to rewind the stream to see if it was a worldy, and thereby missing the opportunity to drip molten pie down my chin.

By this time I'm on my 3rd beer, and have eaten my pies, but as the match kicks off again, I suffer a confidence crisis as the opposition look like they've sussed us out and our midfielders fade into invisibility, and threats rain in on our defensive vulnerabilities.

So, at this point, I'm off out for another smoke, remembering to take my glasses on this occasion so I can stare at a green screen with fuzzy tangerine blobs from 60 ft. There is a rationale behind this behaviour - 'Great goals I have missed while emptying my bladder/having a smoke/queing for pies' is a book I could write, so much so I'm convinced we'd be world beaters if I didn't bother to watch them at all and spent 90 minutes smoking or baking or some such diversionary activity.

I have elected to visit the pub on Tuesday as a change (It's been a while) and spend my telly saving on some cool refreshing ale. In this backwater Derbyshire town, there will be nobody in the pub who is remotely interested in the outcome, I will watch the game from the same spot I watched us gain legendary status when we thumped Forest back when, and the place was heaving with deflated Forest fans and gleeful Derby rivals, but on this occasion I will probably be the only person watching the game (along with my missus, who will dutifully distract me with questions like 'are they playing well? What colours are Blackpool playing in?'

There is a fine pie selection at this venue, and a covered smoking area, so I can perpetuate my routine, but this time I've been told I have to designate some lucky pants to the occasion, just to make sure of it.

Anyway, it's not much of a coping strategy - I am a different personality on matchdays, all highly strung and a bit obsessive.
Roll on the cricket when I can be chilled once more.

Come on you Poooooolllllll !!!
 
I'm developing a mental strategy for the next two weeks along the lines of "I like the lower leagues, less affected by Sky and the digital age, and the Championship is full of Prem wannabees and yoyo clubs. And even the most massive club of all keeps failing to stay up there. I've recently retired and I fancy visiting the small places occasionally for a day out and a game in an old school stadium!
 
The only thing I want is for us to make sure the 2nd leg is a competitive game.

I'd hate for us to be 3-0 or 4-0 down going into the 2nd leg and it basically be game over.
 
SeasideKurt said:
The only thing I want is for us to make sure the 2nd leg is a competitive game.

I'd hate for us to be 3-0 or 4-0 down going into the 2nd leg and it basically be game over.
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I know what you mean, but it's just all or nothing, I think. There's no good good way to lose them, and the worst is the 1996 method, where you win the first leg 2-0 and lose the second leg 3-0.

I actually think Oxford are the favourites to win the playoffs. Bang in form and didn't expect to make them, plus the spur of narrowly missing out last year. And the first game with fans. They'll just go for it, and we will need to be incredibly robust in that first leg. If they take a lead into the second leg we have to commit to attack and that plays into their hands.

Alternatively, we ride the early storm tomorrow and take a 1-0 lead and then they fear going 2-0 behind at home. Scoring first tomorrow might be crucial. It would certainly be extremely handy.
 
My coping mechanism is accepting we won’t do it, that way I’m mentally prepared for the defeat (if it comes) And unlike under the Oystons we will be stronger next year as I can’t see us going backwards under Sadler.
Not overly thought about it until today, nerves well and truly kicked in.
 
Whilst at home this season during tense games I can't physically sit down - I always have to stand up, if it gets really bad I'll end up pacing (a luxury you aren't afforded at a live game).

No amount of beer helps I find, I'll be just as nervous except I'll also be pissed. Not that it stops me - I'll be both nervous and pissed on Tuesday/Friday!
 
I’m struggling to concentrate on things since we got there.
Just planning Tuesday and Friday with military precision.
 
I'm playing golf tomorrow morning with a Charlton fan. Problem is that we will finish about noon and the POC for the match is literally 5 minutes from the golf course....
 
It's the uncertainty of not fully knowing how things will turn out, that makes it what it is. If we somehow knew the scores we could watch it really relaxed, or not at all (heaven forbid we lose)
I can't stroke the lucky cat or rabbit this time, as they're no longer here as in 2010, it'll have to be the lucky dog I guess, if he wags his tail that must bring us good luck.
PS I just tested that theory & it wagged 🤪
 
voyeur said:
I'm developing a mental strategy for the next two weeks along the lines of "I like the lower leagues, less affected by Sky and the digital age, and the Championship is full of Prem wannabees and yoyo clubs. And even the most massive club of all keeps failing to stay up there. I've recently retired and I fancy visiting the small places occasionally for a day out and a game in an old school stadium!
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Also, we won't have to visit Preston and it's depressing blanket of doom.
 
Had £50 on Oxford. So either we win, happy days. We draw, happy days. I get £110 back. Happyish days
 
voyeur said:
I know what you mean, but it's just all or nothing, I think. There's no good good way to lose them, and the worst is the 1996 method, where you win the first leg 2-0 and lose the second leg 3-0.

I actually think Oxford are the favourites to win the playoffs. Bang in form and didn't expect to make them, plus the spur of narrowly missing out last year. And the first game with fans. They'll just go for it, and we will need to be incredibly robust in that first leg. If they take a lead into the second leg we have to commit to attack and that plays into their hands.

Alternatively, we ride the early storm tomorrow and take a 1-0 lead and then they fear going 2-0 behind at home. Scoring first tomorrow might be crucial. It would certainly be extremely handy.
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We're the favourites on form, best defence and best GD, Oxford's goal's scored are artificially boosted by those two games against Crewe and Burton.,
 
I'm not normally into stats but I calm myself down looking at these two little gems..........

In the last 8 playoffs we've been in we've reached the final in 7 of them.
A success rate of 87.5%

In the 7 finals we've played we're won 5 of them.
A success rate of 71.5%

Has all that info lowered our heart rates?
😁👍🏻
 
I wasn't available for the first two playoffs or the Bradford away game. Since then, the only times I've been nervous have been Oldham at home and Forest away (until we scored our first). However, I'm a bit on the edge for this one.
 
Wizzerboy said:
I'm not normally into stats but I calm myself down looking at these two little gems..........

In the last 8 playoffs we've been in we've reached the final in 7 of them.
A success rate of 87.5%

In the 7 finals we've played we're won 5 of them.
A success rate of 71.5%

Has all that info lowered our heart rates?
😁👍🏻
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No. It’s about as reliable as my dogs tail wagging 😂
 
Reading threads like this which reminds me that I'm not the only one going through all the worry.

I recently posted on another thread that I'm not as worried this time around because I'm now supporting a professionally run club with the infrastructure to become an established championship side in the next few seasons anyway.

Well bollocks to that. The game's tomorrow and I'm crapping bricks
But better this than mid table obscurity and the season being over
 
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Well I just try and block it out of my mind until kick off, watching on tv gives me anxiety but I just do breathing exercises, on Friday I know people will be having a beer or two before the game , but if I did that I would be pissing every ten minutes, so I will stay dry until after the match and then get pissed with my son and his mates in the Armfield Club . UTMP
 
voyeur said:
I'm developing a mental strategy for the next two weeks along the lines of "I like the lower leagues, less affected by Sky and the digital age, and the Championship is full of Prem wannabees and yoyo clubs. And even the most massive club of all keeps failing to stay up there. I've recently retired and I fancy visiting the small places occasionally for a day out and a game in an old school stadium!
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There’s always street diazepam or the likes 🥴
 
Limechase said:
Man up!!!
We are Blackpool, the most successful team in EFL playoff history, we have a team of Titans, we have the best defence in the league, We are going to WIN, they will fear us, we have better players all over the pitch.....

BELIEVE!!!

WE ARE BLACKPOOL!!!!
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Crich and his merry men. Feared by the rich, loved by the poor.
 
highfieldsouthshore said:
So nervous I don’t even know if I can watch it or listen to it on lancs . Just want to wake up in a couple of weeks and were in championship. Suppose to be working tomorow night but might pull a sicky and watch it on tv or listen on radio. Friday match though I’m sure a few pre match beers may calm my nerves . If any team deserves a bit of luck with all thatourfans have gone through with the oystons it’s us. Just wish we could all be there watching . Come on you pool .
Click to expand...
“Just want to wake up in a couple of weeks and we’re in the championship,” superb idea 💡👍
 
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