JIMMY ARMFIELD WOULD BE SO PROUD
New owners, new team, new hope — Blackpool are winning back fans and look on the up
Jimmy Armfield’s son related at his father’s funeral three years ago how, during difficult times, his dad had written to him with advice. ‘don’t give up,’ the former player, manager and broadcaster implored. ‘sometimes it’s just time for a change. Persevere.’
if only Armfield had lived to see how much this wisdom applies to his beloved Blackpool.
The banner with new owner simon sadler’s name on it, proclaiming, ‘He’s one of our own’, was not the only evidence of a regalvanised club on saturday. There were the freshly painted stadium stanchions, the concrete pitch perimeter scrubbed clean of seagull deposits, and the seats of the old south stand bearing one word: Armfield.
The title of a proposed new fans’ history of the club — Out of the Darkness Comes the Light — encapsulates what has happened since sadler replaced the detested Oyston family two years ago. it has been a long road, including attempts to win back fans lost to the Premier league, fleetwood Town and even AfC fylde during five dark years which culminated in a fans’ boycott.
‘The relationship with the club was severed for a lot of fans,’ says Andy Higgins, chair of the Blackpool supporters’ Trust. ‘ it’s almost a lost generation. We want to get them back and hope we can.’
The new owners’ respect for fans helps. There are regular virtual meetings between sadler ( a Hong Kong- based businessman who made his fortune in hedge funds), director Brett Gerrity and the Trust.
A decent team helps, too. The arrival of a powerful sunderland side chasing automatic promotion was a test of whether Blackpool, 15 games unbeaten, were league One promotion candidates as well. Neil Critchley’s side passed that test.
it is no surprise Blackpool are embedded in the play- off spots with six games to play. A rival league One manager observed privately last september that the size of their squad alone — 39 players fielded in all competitions so far — made them challengers.
But Critchley, who arrived from liverpool’s Under 23 set-up in march last year, has needed a clear mind under severe early pressure to take things this far.
Having brought in 17 players last summer, he proceeded to lose six games out of nine. it perhaps helped that there were no fans in the stadium at the time.
But he then displayed tactical flexibility. When playing two up front brought wins at Burton and Wigan in October and early November — a pivotal period — he stuck with that system.
it seems no coincidence that the improvement also came with Colin Calderwood’s arrival in October as a second assistant to Critchley.
The former Northampton and Nottingham forest boss brought the senior management experience that 42-year- old Critchley lacked. He adds what Critchley calls the ‘helicopter view’.
Critchley seems to be tough when it is necessary. He let loanee Ben Woodburn return to liverpool when things did not work out, even though Woodburn contracting Covid seemed to have contributed to his difficulties.
He also knows what talent looks like. When everton manager Carlo Ancelotti was asked about losing luke Garbutt to Blackpool in June, he replied, ‘Who?’
But sunderland know all about Garbutt — a wing-back who bombed on to give Blackpool impressive width on saturday. it was Garbutt who delivered the treacherous low cross from the left which deflected in off defender Bailey Wright to put Blackpool ahead just before the hour.
everton loan striker ellis simms, who arrived in January, was also dangerous in a side who counter-attack with pace, though it was resilience that saw Blackpool home. Central defenders dan Ballard, taken on loan from Arsenal in October, and icelander daniel Gretarsson, another of the autumn incomers, were both outstanding.
for sunderland, three defeats on the spin makes automatic promotion an increasingly remote prospect. Callum mcfadzean should have been dismissed for a cynical foul when already on a yellow card. Only veteran Grant leadbitter, 35, impressed.
Blackpool’s squad overhaul has been so rapid that fans are still familiarising themselves with some of the players who might have enough to take them back to the Championship.
But the club, located in one of the poorest districts in england, has made itself known to Blackpool again.
Attempts to rebuild bridges saw the supporters’ Trust raise £25,000 to ensure children from poorer local families all received a gift in the midst of lockdown last Christmas — with sadler matching the sum raised.
Higgins and the Trust are also renovating three floors of premises opposite the stadium to create a hub for all the Blackpool supporters’ groups and the former players’ association.
They will call it The Armfield. Jimmy would have liked that.