da dobrowin： Lee Clark, the unpopular manager of Championship side Blackpool, has already admitted defeat.
da realbet： Blackpool have been at the bottom of the Championship for the majority of the season and look set to be relegated in the next few games. Clark who has been manager since last October when Jose Riga was sacked has come out and told reporters that he has already started planning for League One.
Since he took over, Clark has seen only three wins with a win percentage of 12%. Blackpool fans know there is pretty much no chance they will survive relegation, but to hear that their manager has already given up when they aren’t technically relegated cannot have been nice to hear.
Tuesday night’s match against Charlton had an attendance of 4,100 as reported by the Blackpool Gazette – rather than the 9,000 that was announced at the game – and for those who were there it appeared there was no tactical plan from the man in charge. The game felt like the players had been told ‘every time you get the ball just kick it as hard and as far as you can’. Players just hoofed the ball up the pitch and only a couple of times did a player keep the ball and run with it.
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While fans are resigned to relegation – and have been for some time – it is still not fair to them to know that everyone involved in the club has given up. Nyron Nosworthy, one of the more experienced players at Blackpool, has been sent out on loan to Portsmouth. He’s one of the highest earners, so you know the team are resigned to being relegated when they decide they may as well save some money.
When Blackpool were relegated from the Premier League it wasn’t as painful as it could have been because the team went onto the pitch and played with pride and passion; they were not going down without a fight.
This season there has been no fight – and no passion – and Lee Clark’s comments are just another on the long list of things that show the team do not care about what happens to Blackpool Football Club. The only ones who care are the couple of youth team players who have been picked in the squad. In fact, they should just play the youth team for the rest of the season; at least they would try.
Some fans have the impression that Blackpool fans are just moaning for the sake of it, but if this was your team you would feel the exact way the Seaside Army feel right now: lost and hopeless. The club they love the most is combusting around them and there is no one trying to stop it. Other fans might not get it but Blackpool fans aren’t just moaning they are trying to fight.
Lee Clark’s comments angered many fans. They just show clearly how bad the decline of the club really is; nobody on that pitch or off it is trying anymore. Clark has said he is in it for the long run – and can be a success at Blackpool – but after the comments like that no one believes him or really wants him to stay. Fans want people in a club who will fight to the very end for the interests of the club.
The harsh reality is Blackpool are down. The club has given up.
Let’s just hope for all Blackpool fans’ sake that Bolton aren’t the ones to relegate them live on Sky.
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