Jack Frost stops Blackpool playing

Jack Frost stops play


Chris Brown
Tangerine

THE build-up to our home game against Manchester United was brilliant. Since the fixtures were released this game was the big one, and Saturday, December 4 became embedded in the minds of all Blackpool fans. After all, the world’s most famous football team was coming to town.
Unbeaten in the league, top of the table, United – having just stiffed Blackburn Rovers 7-1 – were arriving to Bloomfield road as hot favourites and looking for three points. It was to be our biggest game, beamed live right around the globe. And with a tea-time kick-off on a Saturday, the scene was set for the Seasiders to be the darlings of the football world, because we were going to beat them!
Arrangements were going well, and I had managed to get 100/1 on Blackpool to win 3-2 at a Westport bookie. I had dreamt all week how I would spend my €1,000, so sure was I that the paupers from the seaside would end the run of the billionaire club from Manchester. The news that the game was called off (the pitch being deemed unplayable due to frost) was cruel and I was left at a loose end all weekend.
The Red Devils now on the back burner, thoughts went to the World Cup and how those Lake Geneva lounge lizards Fifa just shouldn’t be in charge of proceedings. Quite possibly fans travelling to watch the tournament in 2018 would have preferred visiting London or Barcelona to Stalingrad, but Russia deserves the chance to be hosts. They are a real football nation with passionate supporters and a country where  the stadiums built for the finals will be a great legacy. But to choose Qatar is a different matter and has to rate as one of the most stupid decisions ever in the history of anything.
How can awarding the finals to a country with no football pedigree, the size of the Fahy triangle, which sits in 50c temperatures, has no stadiums, and doesn’t even serve beer be anything other than idiotic? I wonder just how long the beautiful game will have to suffer the buffoons of Fifa making decisions, an organisation that ruined the 2010 World Cup as a spectacle because they couldn’t even sort out a ball fit to play with!
The race for the Premier League title is the best for years, as both Man City and Spurs have joined Arsenal, Chelsea and Man United as contenders. More importantly, Blackpool FC is holding their own in this great division. Our manager, Ian Holloway has been a fantastic signing for us, and since his arrival we have had many wonderful results. The 1-0 away win at Stoke, our fourth game unbeaten, was a real achievement at this level.
Next up are Tottenham Hotspur at home next Sunday (live on Sky), a real test because the Spurs currently have a really tasty midfield – has anyone seen a better hat trick than Gareth Bale’s in Milan? That said, we have a squad capable of causing menace. In Charlie Adam, we have a play-maker of real quality. His vision and touch is a throwback to a bygone age, when pace and power were not paramount in the game, and the Scot is becoming a legend. Add to the mix Luke Varney, who can hit a ball as sweet as a nut, and DJ Campbell, who with his tattooed neck and gold teeth, brings fear just to look at him. Game on.
Is it a coincidence that Blackpool’s arrival in the top flight is making for a vintage Premiership this year? Of course it isn’t, Come on Pool.