Blackpool F.C.

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Blackpool F.C.
Full name	Blackpool Football Club
Nickname(s)	'Pool, The Seasiders, The Tangerines
Founded	26 July, 1887[1]
Ground	Bloomfield Road Blackpool, England (Capacity 9,788)
Chairman	Karl Oyston
Manager	Simon Grayson
League	The Championship
2007-08	The Championship, 19th
Home colours 　 Away colours

Blackpool Football Club are an English football club founded in 1887 and located in the Lancashire seaside town of Blackpool. The club have been a member of the Football League since 1900. They currently play in The Championship, the second tier of professional football in England, after winning the 2006–07 League One Play-Off Final.

The club's home ground has been Bloomfield Road since 1899, and their nicknames include The 'Pool, The Seasiders and The Tangerines, the latter in reference to their home colour. They have a fierce rivalry with local arch-enemy Preston North End, and any League meeting between the two clubs is known as the West Lancashire derby (or, alternatively, the M55 derby).

Blackpool's most famous achievement is winning the 1953 FA Cup Final, the so-called "Matthews Final", in which they beat Bolton Wanderers 4–3, overturning a 1–3 deficit in the closing stages of the game.

During that post-war period, Blackpool made three Wembley appearances in six years and came close to winning the League Championship on several occasions. They also supplied the national teams with many players, notably for England in 1953 when four Blackpool men lined up at Wembley, causing the Daily Mirror to declare that "Blackpool F.C. are playing Hungary today",^[1] though it became a day that English football fans would want to forget.

In 1982–83, Blackpool endured the worst season in their history, finishing four places from the bottom of the entire Football League, and were only saved from relegation to the Alliance Premier League (now the Conference) because the re-election system voted in their favour. Twelve years earlier, the club was playing in English football's top flight.

Contents 1 History 1.1 Recent events 2 Players 2.1 Current squad 2.2 One-club men 2.3 Internationals 2.4 Hall of Fame 3 Non-playing staff 4 Managers past and present 5 Honours 5.1 League 5.2 Cups 6 Shirts and sponsors 7 See also 8 Notes 9 References 10 External links

[edit] History

For more details on this topic, see History of Blackpool F.C. (1887–1962) and History of Blackpool F.C. (1962–present).

Blackpool Football Club was formed on July 26, 1887, after a merger with a breakaway group from the local St. John's Football Club. The club managed to win two pieces of silverware in its first season in existence, 1887–88: the Fylde Cup and the Lancashire Junior Cup.

At the conclusion of the following 1888–89 season, Blackpool became founder members of the Lancashire League. In their first season in the competition, the club finished fifth out of the thirteen member clubs. They finished as runners-up over the following three seasons (to Bury twice and Liverpool once), before winning the championship themselves on their fourth attempt.

Blackpool's home at that point in time was Raikes Hall Gardens (also known as the Royal Palace Gardens), which was part of a large entertainment complex that included a theatre and a boating lake, amongst other attractions. This meant that the club's average attendances were around the two-thousand mark, making the club's formative years a financial success.^[1]

After struggling to repeat the success of the 1893–94 season, the Blackpool board decided it was time to leave local football behind, so on 13 May 1896, the club became a limited company and applied for entry to the Football League.

Their application was successful, and for the club's debut season they joined the sixteen-team Second Division. Blackpool's first-ever Football League game took place on September 5, 1896, at Lincoln City, which they lost 3–1 in front of around 1,500 spectators.^[1][2]

After three seasons in the League, Blackpool were not re-elected at the conclusion of the 1898–99 season, after finishing third-bottom. They had moved to a new ground, at Stanley Park's Athletic Grounds, the same season.

On December 12, 1899, Blackpool amalgamated with local rivals South Shore. Shortly afterwards, the club, after a brief return to Raikes Hall, moved to a new ground at Gamble's Field, on Bloomfield Road at the southern end of the town. The name of the ground was subsequently renamed for the road on which it stood.

Blackpool's season out of the Football League was a success: they finished third upon their return to the Lancashire League, and after the Football League's annual meeting on May 25, 1900, were permitted back into Division Two.

During the ten seasons that followed, Blackpool could finish no higher than twelfth place. The club's top goalscorers in the league included Bob Birkett (ten goals in 1900–01), Geordie Anderson (twelve goals in 1901–02) and Bob Whittingham (thirteen in 1908–09).

At the end of 1910–11, the club found themselves in seventh place, thanks largely to Joe Clennell's haul of eighteen goals.

It was a case of as-you-were, however, for the four seasons leading up to World War I, with finishing positions of fourteenth, twentieth, sixteenth and tenth. For the latter of those seasons, Joe Lane netted 28 goals.

The outbreak of war forced the cancellation of League football for four years, during which time regional competitions were introduced. When normalcy resumed, in 1919–20, Blackpool had appointed their first full-time manager in the form of Bill Norman. Norman guided the club to fourth-placed finishes in his first two League seasons in charge (he was installed as manager during the final inter-war season), with Lane again netting close to thirty goals in the former.

The club's form nosedived in the 1921–22 season, with a finishing position of nineteenth, before bouncing back to a fifth-placed finish in the following campaign. Harry Bedford, who had joined the club from Nottingham Forest, was the country's top league scorer, with 32 goals to his name.

Bedford repeated the feat the following season, this time under the watchful eye of new manager Frank Buckley, who replaced Bill Norman after his four years of service. Blackpool finished fourth in Buckley's first season in charge.

The 1924–25 season wasn't as successful; a seventeenth-placed finish tempered only slightly by the club's reaching the fourth round of the FA Cup for the first time. A single-goal defeat at fellow Lancastrians Blackburn Rovers ended the Seasiders' run.

Buckley guided Blackpool to top-ten finishes in his final two seasons as manager — with Billy Tremelling's thirty goals in the latter helping considerably — before he left to take the helm at Wolverhampton Wanderers Wolves).

Buckley's replacement was Sydney Beaumont, who took charge for the 1927–28 season, but he lasted only until the spring after the club finished in nineteenth position.

Harry Evans was installed as the new Blackpool manager, in an honorary capacity, for the 1928–29 campaign. Due in no small part to Jimmy Hampson's 40 goals, the club finished eighth. In his second season, Evans guided Blackpool to the Division Two championship (their only championship to date), finishing three points ahead of Chelsea. Hampson had bagged 45 of the club's 98 league goals.

Blackpool lasted only three seasons in the First Division. Two third-bottom finishes were followed by a last-placed finish, and the club returned to the Second Division.

The club's relegation prompted the Blackpool board to install a recognised manager, and they opted for Sandy MacFarlane. MacFarlane occupied the Bloomfield Road hot seat for just two seasons, in which the club finished eleventh and fourth, respectively. MacFarlane's final 1934–35 season marked Jimmy Hampson's eighth successive (and final) season as Blackpool's top league goalscorer.

Joe Smith was appointed Blackpool's sixth manager in August 1935, a role in which he remained for the next 23 years.

The club finished tenth in Smith's first season, with Bobby Finan taking over from Hampson as top scorer, with 34 goals. It was Smith's second season in charge, however, that marked the starting point of the success to come. Blackpool finished the 1936–37 season as runners-up in the Second Division to Leicester City and were promoted back to the First Division.

Two seasons of Division One football were played before a second World War intervened. Blackpool sat atop the table at the time the abandonment occurred.^[3] Regional competitions were implemented again between 1939 and 1945. For the 1945–46 season, after the war's conclusion, Blackpool spent one season in the Football League North.

A forward by the name of Stan Mortensen joined the club in 1946 after serving in the war, and he went on to become Blackpool's top league goalscorer for the next nine seasons, sharing the honour with Allan Brown in 1952–53. Stanley Matthews, who became a regular source of goals for Mortensen, joined Blackpool in 1947 as did centre forward Jackie Mudie. Goalkeeper George Farm signed in 1948 as did outside left Bill Perry in 1949. Matthews, Mudie, Farm and Perry would play with the club throughout the 1950s, the most successful decade in the club's history.

During Mortensen's nine seasons, Blackpool reached the FA Cup Final on three occasions, losing to Manchester United in 1948 and Newcastle United three years later, and winning it in 1953 captained by Harry Johnston.

In 1955–56, Blackpool attained their highest-ever league finish: runners-up to Manchester United. It was a feat that could not be matched or bettered over the following two seasons, with fourth and seventh-placed finishes, and Smith left Blackpool as the club's most successful and longest-serving manager.

Smith was succeeded, in May 1958, by Ron Suart, the first former Seasiders player to return to the club as manager. In his first season, he led the club to eighth in the First Division and the sixth round of the FA Cup. A 23-year-old Ray Charnley topped the club's goalscoring chart with twenty, in his first season as a professional, and went on to repeat the feat for seven of the eight seasons that followed.

The League Cup came into existence in 1960–61. Blackpool were knocked out in the second round, the round in which they entered. The club's First Division status came under threat, but they managed to avoid relegation by one point, at the expense of Newcastle United. Local arch-rivals Preston North End were the other club to make the drop.

Mid-table finishes in 1961–62 and 1962–63 (and an appearance in the League Cup semi-finals during the former) were offset by another lowly finish of eighteenth in 1963–64, with Alan Ball top-scoring with thirteen goals. Much of the same ensued over the following two seasons, before relegation finally occurred in 1966–67. Blackpool finished bottom of the table, eight points adrift of fellow demotion victims Aston Villa. Suart had resigned four months before the end of the season. His replacement was another former Blackpool player, Stan Mortensen.

Mortensen picked up the pieces for the club's first season back in the Second Division in thirty years, guiding them to a third-placed finish. They had gone into the final game of the season at Huddersfield Town knowing that a win would likely secure a return to the First Division. They won 3–1, but once the premature celebrations had ended, they discovered that their nearest rivals, Queens Park Rangers, had scored a last-minute winner at Aston Villa. Q.P.R. were promoted by virtue of a better goal-average: 1.86, to Blackpool's 1.65.

At the end of the following 1968–69 campaign, the Blackpool board made the decision to sack Mortensen after just over two years in the job. Their decision was met by fans with a mixture of shock and anger, as Mortensen was as popular a manager as he was a player.^[4]

Les Shannon, who spent the majority of his playing career with Blackpool's Lancashire rivals Burnley, was installed as manager for the 1969–70 season. In his first season he succeeded where Mortensen had failed, by guiding the club back to the top flight as runners-up behind Huddersfield Town. Their promotion had been sealed after the penultimate game of the season, a 3–0 victory at rivals Preston North End, courtesy of a Fred Pickering hat-trick. The result effectively relegated the hosts to the Third Division.

As quickly as Shannon had taken Blackpool up, he saw them return whence they came. The club finished at the foot of the table and were relegated back to Division Two, along with Burnley. Before the season's conclusion, Shannon was briefly replaced in a caretaker-manager capacity by Jimmy Meadows, who in turn was permanently replaced by Bob Stokoe. On June 12, 1971, well over a month after the conclusion of the league season, Blackpool won the Anglo-Italian Cup with a 2–1 victory over Bologna in the final. This was achieved without the services of Jimmy Armfield, who retired in May after seventeen years and 627 appearances for the club.

Blackpool finished amongst the top ten teams in the Second Division] for six consecutive seasons, under three different managers: Stokoe, Harry Potts and Allan Brown.

Brown's second season at the helm, 1977–78, ended with the club's relegation to the Division Three for the first time in their history.

Stokoe returned for a second stint as manager for the 1978–79 campaign, at the end of which Blackpool finished mid-table. Stokoe resigned during the summer.

Stan Ternent became Blackpool's seventh manager in nine years, only to replaced in February 1980 by Alan Ball, the popular former Blackpool midfielder who left the club for Everton fourteen years earlier. Ball himself only lasted a year in the job, and departed when the club were relegated to the league's basement division.

Allan Brown had taken over from Ball in February 1981, and he remained in charge for the following 1981–82 term. Blackpool finished twelfth in their first season in Division Four; however, unable to handle the pressure of the job,^[5] Brown resigned during the close season.

Sam Ellis took over from Brown in June 1982, three years after he finished his playing career with Watford. His first season saw Blackpool finish 21st, with Dave Bamber topping the club's goalscoring chart for the second consecutive season with ten strikes.

It was Ellis's third season, however, that brought the success the club had been looking for. Blackpool finished second behind Chesterfield and were back in Division Three.

The club managed to finish in the top half of the table for their first three seasons in the Third Division, but slipped to nineteenth in Ellis's seventh and final season in charge.

For the 1989–90 season, Blackpool appointed Jimmy Mullen as manager. Mullen's reign last only eleven months, however, and he left the club after their relegation back to Division Four.

Graham Carr replaced Mullen, but his spell in the manager's seat was even shorter — just four months. He was sacked in November 1990 with Blackpool lying in eighteenth place.

Carr's replacement was his assistant, Billy Ayre. Ayre guided the team to a fifth-placed finish and qualification for the play-offs. They lost only five of their thirty league games that remained at the time of Ayre's appointment. The run included thirteen consecutive home wins in an eventual 24–game unbeaten run at Bloomfield Road.^[6]

After beating Scunthorpe United in the two-legged semi-finals of the play-offs, Blackpool lost to Torquay United in the Wembley final, on penalties after the score was tied 2–2 after regular and extra time (see Blackpool F.C. season 1990-91#Final).

The following 1991–92 season finished with Blackpool in fourth place, which meant another play-offs experience. This time they met Barnet in the semi-finals and won 2–1 on aggregate. They returned to Wembley, where they faced Scunthorpe United in the final, the team they knocked out of the play-offs twelve months earlier. Again the score was tied at the end of regular and extra time, but Blackpool were victorious in the penalty shootout and booked their place in the new Division Two.

Blackpool struggled in their first two terms back in the third tier of English football, demonstrated by eighteenth- and twentieth-placed finishes, avoiding relegation in the latter season by virtue of a 4–1 victory over Leyton Orient on the final day of the season,^[7] which resulted in a pitch invasion by the Blackpool supporters. Ayre was sacked in the summer of 1994 and was replaced by Sam Allardyce.

Allardyce led Blackpool to a mid-table finish in his first season and saw the club knocked out of both cup competitions at the first hurdle. Tony Ellis was the club's top scorer with seventeen league goals.

The 1995–96 season saw Blackpool finish third and claim a place in the play-offs for the third time in six seasons. In the semi-finals, Blackpool travelled to Bradford City and won 2–0. Three days later, they hosted the Yorkshiremen at Bloomfield Road and lost 3–0. Blackpool remained in Division Two, and Allardyce was sacked not long afterwards.

Former Norwich City manager Gary Megson replaced Allardyce, and attained a seventh-placed finish in his only season in charge. Nigel Worthington succeeded Megson in the summer of 1997, and in the Irishman's two full campaigns in the hot seat, Blackpool finished twelfth and fourteenth. Worthington resigned towards the end of the 1999–2000 season, and his seat was filled by the former Liverpool and England midfielder Steve McMahon. McMahon arrived too late to save the club from relegation to the Third Division after a 22nd-placed finish in the league.

McMahon gained promotion via the play-offs in his first full season. Success eluded him, however, for his three remaining seasons in charge, and he resigned in the summer of 2004.

Blackpool chose another high-profile individual as McMahon's successor: ex-Blackburn Rovers and Scotland captain Colin Hendry, who finished his playing career with the club. Hendry's reign lasted seventeen months, though the club remained in the new League One.

Hendry was replaced by Simon Grayson, who also ended his playing career at Bloomfield Road, in November of the 2005–06 season.

On 6 January 2007, Blackpool reached the fourth round of the FA Cup for the first time in seventeen years, after beating Aldershot Town 4–2 at Bloomfield Road. They were knocked out in the fourth round by Norwich City, 3–2 after a replay at Carrow Road on February 13, narrowly missing out on a trip to London to face Chelsea in the last sixteen.^[8]

On April 21, 2007, Blackpool guaranteed themselves at least a place in the play-offs after a 2–1 win at Cheltenham Town.^[9] Seven days later, they beat Scunthorpe United 3–1 at Bloomfield Road in the penultimate game of the regular season.^[10] The visitors were crowned champions of League One despite their defeat, while Blackpool moved two points behind the second automatic-promotion place after Bristol City lost by a single goal at Millwall.^[11]

On the final day of the regular season, Blackpool won 6–3 at Swansea City,^[12] a result which ensured that the Tangerines finished in third place, ended Swansea's play-off hopes, resulted in Oldham Athletic's finishing the season in sixth position, and meant Blackpool finished the season as top scorers in League One with 76 goals.^[13] Blackpool and Oldham met in the two-legged semi-finals of the play-offs. Blackpool won both legs — 2–1 at Boundary Park on 13 May^[14] and 3–1 at Bloomfield Road six days later.^[15] On 27 May they met Yeovil Town in the final at the new Wembley Stadium, their first appearance at England's national stadium in fifteen years. Blackpool won 2–0, a club-record tenth consecutive victory, and were promoted to The Championship in their 100th overall season in the Football League.^[16]

[edit] Recent events

On 11 August 2007, Blackpool beat Leicester City by a single goal at the Walkers Stadium in their first game in The Championship, and their first game in the second tier of English football for 29 years.^[17] It was the first time the club had won their opening league game since the 2000–01 season.^[18]

Seven days later, the club's run of twelve consecutive wins ended after they drew with Bristol City at Bloomfield Road.^[19] Their thirteen game unbeaten run was ended the following game, with defeat at Wolves on 25 August.^[20]

Blackpool knocked Premier League side Derby County out of the League Cup at the second-round stage on 28 August 2007. The match ended 1–1 after ninety minutes and 2–2 after extra time. The Seasiders won the resulting penalty shootout 7–6.^[21] On 25 September, Blackpool beat Southend United 2–1 after extra time^[22] to reach the fourth round for the first time in 35 years. They were drawn away to Premiership side Tottenham Hotspur in the last sixteen, a match they lost 2–0.^[23] Tottenham went on to win the competition.

On 8 December 2007, Blackpool beat Preston North End at Deepdale by a single goal in the first West Lancashire derby since 1 April, 2000.^[24]

Blackpool finished the 2007–08 season in 19th place, escaping relegation by two points and ensuring their safety in a 1–1 draw with Watford on the final day of the Championship season.^[25]

[edit] Players

[edit] Current squad

As of 4 June, 2008.^[26]

No. Position Player 1 GK Paul Rachubka 2 DF Danny Coid 3 DF Stephen Crainey 4 MF Keith Southern 6 DF Ian Evatt 8 FW Stephen McPhee 9 FW Andy Morrell 10 MF Stuart Green 11 MF Wes Hoolahan 12 MF Gary Taylor-Fletcher 14 MF David Fox 16 MF Claus Bech Jørgensen

No. Position Player 17 DF Kaspars Gorkšs 25 DF Shaun Barker 26 MF Simon Wiles 27 FW Ben Burgess 29 MF Matty Kay 33 MF Michael D'Agostino 35 FW Danny Mitchley — DF Ashton Bayliss — DF Marlon Broomes — MF Ross Lloyd — MF Dominic Merella

See also:

• List of Blackpool F.C. players
• List of Blackpool F.C. players with a Wikipedia article
• List of notable Blackpool F.C. players

[edit] One-club men

Eight players have spent their entire professional playing career with Blackpool:

Name	Years	Apps	Goals
Harry Stirzaker	1894–1903 (9)	154	13
Bob Birkett	1896–1907 (11)	215	44
Bert Tulloch	1914–1924 (10)	178	0
Harry Johnston	1934–1955 (21)	398	11
Hugh Kelly	1943–1960 (17)	428	8
Jimmy Armfield	1954–1971 (17)	569	6
Glyn James	1960–1975 (15)	399	22
Mike Davies	1984–1995 (11)	310	16

See also: List of one-club men

[edit] Internationals

Blackpool has had 37 full-international representatives. Their first was F.J. Griffiths, for Wales, in 1899. Their most recent was Wes Hoolahan in 2008 for the Republic of Ireland.

Many players won additional caps with other clubs, but the totals given below apply solely to appearances made while with Blackpool.

England

Name	Years	Caps	Goals
Harry Bedford	1923–1924	2	1
Jimmy Hampson	1930–1932	3	5
Harry Johnston	1946–1953	10	0
Stan Mortensen	1946–1954	25	23
Stanley Matthews	1946–1957	36	3
Eddie Shimwell	1949	1	0
Tommy Garrett	1951–1954	3	0
Ernie Taylor	1953–1954	1	0
Bill Perry	1955–1956	3	2
Jimmy Armfield	1958–1966	43	0
Ray Charnley	1962–1963	1	0
Tony Waiters	1963–1965	5	0
Alan Ball	1964–1966	14	1

Scotland

Name	Years	Caps	Goals
Phil Watson	1933	1	0
Alex Munro	1937–1938	1	0
Frank O'Donnell	1938	1	0
Jimmy Blair	1946	1	0
Allan Brown	1951–1954	11	3
George Farm	1952–1954	10	0
Hugh Kelly	1952	1	0
Jackie Mudie	1956–1978	17	9
Tony Green	1970–1972	6	0

Wales

Name	Years	Caps	Goals
F.J. Griffiths	1899–1900	2	0
Dai Astley	1938–1939	1	1
Glyn James	1965–1971	9	0
Wyn Davies	1973–1974	1	0

Northern Ireland
Prior to 1924, there was only one Irish national team. In that year, the Republic of Ireland began playing separate matches, and that position is reflected here.

Name	Years	Caps	Goals
Sammy Jones	1933–1934	1	1
Peter Doherty	1934–1936	4	0
Malcolm Butler	1938–1939	1	0
Derek Spence	1976–1980	15	3
James Quinn	1996–1998	10	1

Republic of Ireland

Name	Years	Caps	Goals
Mickey Walsh	1975–1977	4	1
Kevin Sheedy	1993–1994	?	?
Wes Hoolahan	2008	1	0

Republic of China

Name	Years	Caps	Goals
Cheung Chi Doy	Unknown	?	?

Faroe Islands

Name	Years	Caps	Goals
Claus Jørgensen	2006	1	0

Latvia

Name	Years	Caps	Goals
Kaspars Gorkšs	2006-2008	8	1

[edit] Hall of Fame

The Blackpool F.C. Hall of Fame was established on 22 August 2006, with a plaque unveiled by Jimmy Armfield.^[27] Organised by the Blackpool Supporters Association, Blackpool fans around the world can vote on their all-time heroes.^[27] Five players per decade are inducted.

Pre-1950s:

• Jack Parkinson
• Harry Bedford
• Jimmy Hampson
• Jock Dodds
• Georgie Mee

1950s:

• Stan Mortensen
• Stanley Matthews
• Bill Perry
• Harry Johnston
• Allan Brown

1960s:

• Jimmy Armfield
• Alan Ball
• Tony Green
• Ray Charnley
• Glyn James

1970s:

• Alan Suddick
• Mickey Walsh
• Tommy Hutchison
• John Burridge
• Mickey Burns

1980s:

• Paul Stewart
• Alan Wright
• Eamon O'Keefe
• Andy Garner
• Mike Davies

1990s:

• Trevor Sinclair
• Dave Bamber
• Tony Ellis
• Andy Morrison
• Phil Clarkson

[edit] Non-playing staff

As of 25 January, 2008.^[28]

Name	Role
Valeri Belokon	President
Karl Oyston	Chairman
Owen Oyston	Director
Normund Malnacs	Director
Gavin Steele	Director
Matt Williams	Club secretary
Simon Grayson	First-team manager
Tony Parkes	Assistant manager
Steve Thompson	First-team coach
Peter Fox	Goalkeeping coach
Steve Thompson	Reserve-team coach
Gary Parkinson	Youth-team coach
Phil Horner	Physiotherapist

[edit] Managers past and present

There have been 28 different managers of Blackpool. The longest-serving manager was Joe Smith (23 years). The club has, on average, appointed a new manager every 3.6 years.

The statistics in the table below account for Football League games only.

Updated: 4 May, 2008

Name	From	To	Games	Won	Drawn	Lost	Win%	Honours
No manager	1896	1903	196	63	38	95	32.14
Tom Barcroft1 (secretary-manager)	1903	1909	220	61	55	104	27.73
Jack Cox1 (player-manager)	1909	1911	76	30	18	28	39.47
No manager	1911	1915	152	48	35	69	31.58
Bill Norman2	c. 1 August, 1918	c. 31 May, 1923	168	74	36	58	44.05
Major Frank Buckley	1 July, 1923	c. 31 May, 1927	168	67	41	60	39.88
Sydney Beaumont	c. 1 August, 1927	c. 31 May, 1928	42	13	8	21	30.95
Harry Evans (honorary manager)	c. 1 August, 1928	c. 31 May, 1933	210	83	35	92	39.52	Division Two championship (1929–30)
Sandy MacFarlane	1 July, 1933	31 July, 1935	84	36	24	24	42.86
Joe Smith	c. 1 August, 1935	30 April, 1958	714	306	164	244	42.86	Promotion to Division One (1936–37), FA Cup (1953)
Ron Suart1	1 May, 1958	1 February, 1967	363	116	91	156	31.96
Stan Mortensen1	1 February, 1967	30 April, 1969	99	40	27	32	40.40
Les Shannon	1 May, 1969	26 October, 1970	56	22	17	17	39.29	Promotion to Division One (1969–70)
Jimmy Meadows (caretaker-manager)	26 October, 1970	20 December, 1970	8	1	1	6	12.50
Bob Stokoe	20 December, 1970	23 November, 1972	80	28	24	28	35.00	Anglo-Italian Cup (1971)
No manager	23 November, 1972	1 January, 1973	7	4	0	3	57.14
Harry Potts	1 January, 1973	5 May, 1976	143	52	47	44	36.36
Allan Brown1	5 May, 1976	6 February, 1978	69	28	23	18	40.58
No manager	6 February, 1978	7 March, 1978	2	0	1	1	00.00
Jimmy Meadows (caretaker-manager) (second time)	7 March, 1978	20 May, 1978	13	1	6	6	07.69
Bob Stokoe (second time)	20 May, 1978	17 August, 1979	46	18	9	19	39.13
Stan Ternent	19 September, 1979	1 February, 1980	29	9	7	13	31.03
Alan Ball1	February 1980	28 February, 1981	51	13	14	24	25.49
Allan Brown1 (second time)	1 March, 1981	31 May, 1982	58	17	17	24	29.31
Sam Ellis	1 June, 1982	30 April, 1989	317	118	89	110	37.22	Promotion to Division Three (1984–85)
Jimmy Mullen (caretaker-manager)	30 April, 1989	20 May, 1990	5	4	1	0	80.00
Jimmy Mullen	20 May, 1989	30 April, 1990	45	10	16	19	22.22
Tom White1 (caretaker-manager)	30 April, 1990	11 June, 1990	1	0	0	1	00.00
Graham Carr	11 June, 1990	30 November, 1990	16	5	3	8	31.25
Billy Ayre	30 November, 1990	10 June, 1994	164	68	37	59	41.46	Promotion to (new) Division Two (1991–92)
Sam Allardyce	19 July, 1994	29 May, 1996	92	41	23	28	44.57
Gary Megson	5 July, 1996	1 July, 1997	46	18	15	13	39.13
Nigel Worthington1	8 July 1997	23 December, 1999	113	34	32	47	30.09
Steve McMahon	7 January, 2000	6 June, 2004	209	72	54	83	34.45	Promotion to Division Two (2000–01), League Trophy (2002 and 2004)
Colin Hendry1	7 June, 2004	10 November, 2005	62	18	19	25	29.03
Simon Grayson1 (caretaker-manager)	10 November, 2005	5 June, 2006	30	9	10	11	30.00
Simon Grayson1	5 August, 2006	present	92	36	29	27	39.13	Promotion to The Championship (2006–07)
Totals			4,246	1,563	1,066	1,617	36.81

Note 1: – Also played for Blackpool
Note 2: – Norman was the club's first full-time manager

[edit] Honours

[edit] League

• Championships (1):
  • Division Two (1929–30)

• Automatic promotions (3):
  • 1936–37 (Division Two to Division One)
  • 1969–70 (Division Two to Division One)
  • 1984–85 (Division Four to Division Three)

• Promotions via play-offs (3):
  • 1991–92 (Division Four)
  • 2000–01 (Division Three)
  • 2006–07 (League One)

[edit] Cups

• FA Cup (1):
  • 1953
• Anglo-Italian Cup (1):
  • 1971
• Football League Trophy (2):
  • 2002, 2004
• League War Cup (1):
  • 1943
• Lancashire Senior Cup (6):
  • 1936, 1937, 1954, 1994, 1995, 1996
• Lancashire Junior Cup (2):
  • 1888, 1891

[edit] Shirts and sponsors

Blackpool first began wearing tangerine for the 1923–24 season, after a recommendation from referee Albert Hargreaves, who officiated a Holland–Belgium international match and was impressed by the Dutchmen's colours.^[29]

Before changing to tangerine permanently, the team tried several different colours: blue-and-white striped shirts in the 1890s; a mixture of red or white shirts at the turn of the twentieth century; and even red, yellow and black during World War I. After the war, they wore all-white. The board introduced another change in 1934 when the team appeared in alternating dark- and light-blue stripes (which have been reintroduced as the club's away shirt several times since the mid-1990s), but they bowed to public pressure in 1939 and settled on tangerine.^[29]

Below is a list of Blackpool's shirt sponsors:

Years	Sponsor(s)
1979 – 1981	Easywear
1981 – 1982	None
1982 – 1983	Pembroke Hotel
1983 – 1984	None
1984 – 1985	JK Brown
1985 – 1986	None
1986 – 1988	Harry Feeney Autos
1988 – 1990	Bass
1990 – 1991	Vaux
1991 – 1994	Inenco
1994 – 1997	Rebecca's Jewellers of Southport
1997 – 2001	Telewest
2001 – 2003	Electricity Direct
2003 – 2004	Life Repair Group
2004 – 2005	Pricebusters
2005 – 2007	Pointbetgames.com (home and away); Kimmel Lager (third)
2007 – 2008	Floors-2-Go

Back-of-shirt sponsors:

Years	Sponsor(s)
2005 – 2008	Glyn Jones Estate Agents (home); JMB Properties, LTD. (away)

Shorts sponsors:

Years	Sponsor(s)
2005 – 2007	Derek Woodman BMW (home); Derek Woodman Mini (away)
2007 – 2008	Blackpool Leisure

Source

[edit] See also

• West Lancashire derby

[edit] Notes

[edit] References

• Calley, Roy (1992). Blackpool: A Complete Record 1887–1992. Breedon Books Sport. ISBN 1-873626-07-X. 

[edit] External links

• Official site
• BBC Sport:

Fixtures

Results

Table

Statistics

• Blackpool Rivals
• Blackpool.VitalFootball
• View from the Tower

Preceded by Port Vale	Football League Trophy Winners 2001–02	Succeeded by Bristol City
Preceded by Bristol City	Football League Trophy Winners 2003–04	Succeeded by Wrexham

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