Blackpool a Big Club?

Starting at the very beginning, Blackpool always had big ideas about being a big club even way back in the late 19th century. When the club was re-formed in 1887 it wanted to be what was then called "Cock of the Fylde". Gerry Wolstenholme shares his thoughts.


The club was not in any League at the time but only played what were called ordinary fixtures, ie friendly games, against such as Kirkham, Marton, South Shore, Fleetwood Rangers and one or two other clubs from, mainly, east Lancashire.


Bloomfield Road in 1925

Although at one time, almost unbelievably, Kirkham felt that they deserved the title, it was usually a contest between the two big Blackpool clubs, Blackpool and South Shore. Both joined the Lancashire League on its formation but Blackpool was always believed, not least by its own supporters and directors, to be the bigger club. South Shore tried to deny them the honour but when, in December 1899, the two amalgamated and Blackpool was the club retained, the matter was settled! Some four years earlier Blackpool had also stolen a march on their rivals by being elected to The Football League.

Once in the Second Division, Blackpool was regarded more as a small town club than one of the big city, successful and wealthy clubs. And if money and support were the criteria for being classed as a big club, Blackpool was most certainly not! The club was often in debt and was always beseeching supporters to turn up to watch and thus make the club bigger, more successful and more financially stable than it was.

Blackpool struggled on in the Second Division for a number of years and then in 1922/23 and 1923/24 the promotion to the First Division was almost achieved - in fact it could be argued that it was thrown away on both occasions as in each of those seasons Blackpool was at one time top of the Second Division only to fall away at the finish and end up in fifth and fourth positions respectively. The question was repeatedly asked "Do the club really want promotion?" The answer was probably a decided "yes" but they just could not manage it.

The 1929/30 season brought Blackpool's biggest success and promotion to Division One as champions arguably elevated the club to being one of the big clubs; having said that it was never in the same league as some of those others that you mention, Burnley, Stoke, Wolves, dare I say Preston, who all seemed to have better support and perhaps had a more successful tradition which helped to earn them the distinction of being big clubs.

Division One life was short-lived and Blackpool found themselves back in Division Two within three seasons thus the big time was brief. However, promotion as runners-up in 1936/37 earned the club a place back in the top flight and from then on, for a period of 25 years it could be considered a big club, albeit a smaller-big-club (if you would forgive the oxymoron).

As all Seasiders fans know when war broke out in 1939 Blackpool was sat atop the First Division table and a club could not get much bigger than that! Even war-time football brought success to the 'Pool, with, as you quite rightly suggest, guest players who were serving in the armed forces on the Fylde. The Northern Section championship was won in seasons 1941/42, 1942/43 and 1943/44; there was even a treble in 1942/43 and a double in 1943/44. In the first of those seasons, the Northern Section League was won, the northern war-time cup was captured with a 4-3 aggregate victory over Sheffield Wednesday and then, to the surprise of all southerners and many of the critics, the Challenge Cup, played for by the northern and southern cup winners, was won as the mighty Arsenal were beaten 4-2 after leading 2-0. The immortal Jock' Dodds, one of Blackpool's own players, was a name in the land as he scored goal after goal and his feats helped make Blackpool into a household name throughout football circles. Publicity for these achievements was, not surprisingly, not as great as it would have been in peace time for much press coverage was concerned with the downfall of a certain Adolf Hitler.

After the war Blackpool signed Stanley Matthews, who had already guested for the club, and that is when it really began to be classed as a big club. Between 1946/47, fifth in Division One, and say 1958/59, eighth in Division One, the club was as big as any in the land. Supporters flocked to see the team play, at home and away; indeed Blackpool were the most popular visiting side in the land in seasons 1950/51, 1954/55 and 1955/56. In 1950/51 an average crowd of 47,686 watched their away games, in 1954/55 it was 40,604 and in 1955/56 42,594 and this was linked with the club being the second most popular visiting side in 1947/48, 1949/50, 1952/53 and 1953/54 and third most popular in 1948/49. Crowds at Bloomfield Road were always relatively small compared to the big city clubs and even in this heyday Blackpool was often at the bottom of the table of average home gates for the same period. However home crowds were still averaging in the mid-20,000s which for our relatively small ground was very good. And, of course, there were three Wembley appearances and one win between 1948 and 1953.


Pool still in the top flight entertain Derby County in the 60's but the club's decline was soon to follow

Another example of how big a club Blackpool was at the time was the number of times it was requested to tour abroad; everyone wanted to see the boys in tangerine, even if it was mainly because Stanley Matthews was a member of the team. Trips to Sweden, Holland, Belgium, Australia, Hong Kong, New Zealand and Africa were all on the itinerary.

Sadly a decline set in and, although the club survived in the First Division until 1966/67 and had another flirtation with it in 1970/71, a slide down to the lower regions of The Football League - and almost out of it - followed. So since that date it is debatable whether Blackpool could be considered a big club; it had established a tradition with its feats in the late 1940s and 1950s and with its long tenure of First Division football so even if not a big club now, it is still potentially a big club and even these days draws good-sized crowds when playing top-class opposition - witness recent Cup ties against Premiership opposition. So even though the pedigree does not stretch back to Victorian times, the club can fairly be considered as a true former big club' all of which started in the 1939/40 season and stretched from there for approximately 30 years.

Blackpool Football Club will no doubt, and hopefully, have its day at some future date when once again it will be a power in the land and will be considered a relatively - with the smaller than most Bloomfield Road ground and smaller than most fan base - big club. But one thing is certain for those of us who support the tangerine and white, Blackpool will always be a big club!

PISSONPNE PNESHIT





BIG CLUB NO
GOT A BIG TOWER YES FIGHTFIGHTING FIGHTFIGHTING FIGHTFIGHTING FIGHTFIGHTING FUCKOFF WOLVES YAMYAMARMY KIO

u dick and u think wolves r get a grip KIO KILLA

to be fair to the wolves lad, they had bigger rivals than fleetwood and kirkham, you asked the question are blackpool a big club , the obvious answer is no! if you dont like the answer dont ask the question, at best your an average League 1 (i think its called that now)side, with small crowds , the most interesting thing about your question is not one blackpool lad not even a scarf wearing fan bothered to answer you, I think your answers there......no! FINGERSUP P.P.S

years ago no one could come here and take the piss unless thay had big numbers and pne you no this better than anyone FUCKOFF :ph43r:

if it was not for fucking oysten we would be some fucking where :ph43r:

i'm old enough to remember those days ADMIN, obviously we are not playing each other on a regular basis now, but from a distance it looks like your fortunes have gone abit pearshaped, i only really remember from 85 onwards but i know we looked forward to coming there as you probably looked forward to coming to ours, ah well happy days PARTYS

you are right there mate its fuckall like it was FINGERSUP

i was in blackpool recently and just had to go and visit bloomfield road the ground i travelled to many years ago to see bristol rovers win the league when i saw that the spion cop had gone i felt gutted not taking the piss lads but you have two stands that r the business but the rest of the ground looks like a bomb site whats going on eh tell that chairman of yours mr oyston to sort it out lads cos it aint the blackpool i remember you really do deserve a lot better but no matter what the ground looks like in years to come ill never forget standing on the spion cop and seeing bristol rovers get promoted and your lads gave us a standing ovation what a day ps all the best for the rest of the season ok and good luck in the future ringo {bristol rovers fc FINGERSUP

chester when the fuck have you came here and done fuckall,your shit fact!!!i no we are not out like we was but your shit HOOVERRICKY PINTS

BLAH WANKER , you will very soon have chance to prove your point gblock , wont you? FINGERSUP

as like chesterperry iv been going to shitepool from 85 and to be honest even the older lads at that time were gettin the better of the lashers at that time only time iv known the lashers to get on top of us was 96 eng v scotland game outside the hop but at the end of the day we saved face always remember going to shitepool looking for you after a game at deepdale were you didnt show again and if you think the other week was a result for you you must be joking if you had any knowledge about you you would keep public transport WANKER

YOU PRICK YOU WAS SAT AT YOUR P.C FUCKOFF :ph43r: