How Neil Critchley has Blackpool fans dreaming again after they returned from the brink
One Blackpool fan describes his journey from the depths of despair under the club's old owners, to their fresh start and new hope under Neil Critchley. Watch the League One play-off final between Blackpool and Lincoln on Sunday May 30, live on Sky Sports Football from 2.30pm; Kick-off 3pm.
Saturday 29 May 2021 18:08, UK
As Blackpool prepare to face Oxford in the League One play-off semi-finals, one Tangerines fan describes his journey from the depths of despair in 2015 under the club's old ownership, to their fresh start and new hope - capped with their promotion hopes this season under Neil Critchley.
Here is the story of Tom Johnson from Up The Mighty Pool...
In May 2015 I left Bloomfield Road, thinking it would be the final time in my life. The game had been abandoned after fans invaded the pitch after 53 minutes - marking the year 1953 when Blackpool won the FA Cup. It was a protest to raise awareness of the way our club was being run. All I felt at that time was anger, helplessness to our situation and that I had to walk away from the club before I did something I would later regret.
I spent the next four years without my club - seeing them sink to League Two, win promotion at Wembley with next to no fans in and, in truth, that day against Exeter, I didn't know which team to support.Should I support my club, or cheer on the opposition to further hurt the pockets of the owners? A lot of our supporters were split over it and, sadly, a lot of fans fell out with each other over the fact that some wanted to go and support the team, and others felt it was best to stay away and not provide any investment to the owners.
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I lost connection with all of the players, didn't watch any of the highlights and didn't pay attention to the league tables. I watched on as the ground became rustier, moss grew around the stadium and around the statues of the past greats including Jimmy Armfield and Stan Mortensen.
Meanwhile, there was an ongoing legal case which was followed by our fanbase more than the ongoings on the field. It resulted in the club being put into receivership, and then saw the club purchased by Simon Sadler, a Blackpool-born man who had the interest of the club at heart.
Suddenly, we've gone from being the worst run club in the country to one of the best - Sadler has invested in the stadium, the training ground and merchandising department, building the club from the bottom right the way up to the top to be able to compete with other clubs in our league.
On the field it's not been immediate - last year was a disappointing campaign as the investment in the team in the summer and the return of former hero Simon Grayson gave us lots to be hopeful about, and we were in the play-offs up until Christmas, but we fell away badly and the style of football was predictable, boring and ineffective.
On the one hand, we were delighted to be back in the ground, but we were trying to rebuild a connection with the club after years away, and to learn who these players were - and whether they were committed to the cause having played through our years in the wilderness.
On the eve of the COVID pandemic, the club took a step to improve things - out went Grayson, in came Neil Critchley from Liverpool's academy. The promise of a modern way of thinking, coaching and style of football - he's delivered on all fronts.
Rather than look to furlough staff like most clubs at our level, Blackpool kept our recruitment staff at work and we stole a march on key signings ahead of many of our rivals - Keshi Anderson, Marvin Ekpiteta, Jerry Yates and CJ Hamilton all came in early and have been key men for us all year despite three of them picking up serious injuries. The one who has remained fit - Jerry Yates - exemplifies everything this side - and our town - stands for. Hardworking, passionate, underrated and under the radar. He's going to the very top, and hopefully we are too.
Eleven players were signed during pre-season, and we shot into a 3-0 lead over Everton in preseason within 15 minutes, before drawing 3-3 and also led 2-0 at Anfield at half-time. We lost that one 7-2 after making various changes, but it gave us reason to be hopeful that this truly was a new era for the club.
Despite all the hope, we lost six of our opening nine games and sat in the relegation zone.
Eight more players came in before the end of the summer window - the likes of Luke Garbutt, Daniel Gretarsson, Kenny Dougall and loanees Jordan Gabriel (Nottingham Forest) and Dan Ballard (Arsenal) who have all been pivotal.
Immediately, our form started to turn. It started with a 2-1 win at Burton at the end of October, and since then, we've won more points than anyone in League One. I'd put that run down to three key things; the new players who came in and started to settle into our side, Jerry Yates finally got off the mark in the league with two goals that day - he's become the first player since 1994 to hit 20 league goals for us. And thirdly, Colin Calderwood also came in as assistant head coach - he's helped to sort our defensive shape and instil some top-class discipline to our play.
We'd lost six games already by that point, and we've only lost six since, winning 21 and drawing 10 - that run also includes a 16-game unbeaten run from February to April.
What excites me most about this side - in the same way it represents us as a club - is that we've done all that we've done this season against the odds. Yes we've had investment and yes we were one of the favourites for promotion, but we've played 29 games since the turn of the year. We've beaten Premier League West Brom, are unbeaten against the top eight teams in the league over that time, and have only lost three times. All of this, despite losing CJ Hamilton and Keshi Anderson in December - the latter only recently coming back into the side, and losing Ekpiteta in February, who had played every game up to that point. We've been without 12 of our squad of 24 for many of those games, nine of them for a significantly lengthy amount of time.
But what's great about the way Critchley has coached this team is that it doesn't matter who is playing where, each player knows their role and can seamlessly slot in. We've played three different formations this season, relied on youth players and have used eight partnerships at centre-back, yet have kept more clean sheets and conceded less goals than anyone at this level.
Add in the fact that we're the most successful play-off team in EFL history, and we're certainly a force to be reckoned with going into the end-of-season lottery.
The future looks bright, regardless of whether we go up. Our club is in safe hands, we know that the money we invest is going to be reinvested into the club and there's reason to be hopeful after losing all hope for so many years. If we were to do the unthinkable and get back to the Championship, it would be the peak in the club's recent history, and that includes the season in the Premier League 10 years ago.
That's how much it means to our club, our people and our town - we've got Simon Sadler and he knows what we're after - and the future is tangerine.
