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Pool in Latvia - Day two
STEVE CANAVAN brings you his diary as Blackpool travel to Latvia.
- MYSELF and my colleague William Watt departed Gatwick airport yesterday in glorious sunshine, and awoke in Latvia today to grim, overcast skies.
Who says the weather in England is horrible?
Having packed shorts, flip flops and suntan cream I was particularly disappointed by this revelation.
Hey ho, only a couple of days until our return to the sun-kissed Costa del Fylde.
- DJ Campbell was greeted by handshakes and hugs by his team-mates when he linked up with the squad at Gatwick.
New boy Matt Phillips looked a little like a kid on his first day at new school and took a while to settle in.
But the lads soon warmed to him, especially when at training yesterday morning he showed what a promising player he is.
He maybe only 19 but the lad is clearly one to keep an eye on. He's pacy and powerful and will surely cause problems for many a full back, even in the Premier League.
- POOL'S flight to Riga was full of various middle-aged men wearing kilts and sporons.
Scotland are playing Lithuania tonight and the Tartan Army were flying to Latvia, on the basis that it was cheaper than getting a direct flight to Lithuania (as usual the airline companies, knowing there was a big game on, had bumped the prices right up; from Riga it's a three-hour train journey to the game).
I had a quick chat with a couple of the Scottish supporters, who were fulsome in their praise of Charlie Adam.
However, they didn't know too much about Matt McGilks (as he's been dubbed by his team-mates) and looked mildy surprised when I told them he was a born and bred Rochdale lad.
Ian Holloway was excellent with the Scotch fans, chatting to them about footballer matters and happily posing for pictures.
- MENTAL note to self: check the alcohol percentage of the beer in the hotel before drinking six pints of the stuff.
That was the error I made on our first night and after walking back to my room in rather unsteady fashion, awoke with a start at 4am to find myself lying on the bathroom floor attempting to use a small hand towel as a blanket.
I clambered back into bed and upon opening my eyes a few hours later, had to check in the mirror to ensure that someone wasn't pounding my head with a sledge-hammer.
I plan to visit every chemist in town in a bid to hunt down some alka-seltzer.
- IAN Holloway is the busiest man of all on this tour.
He has had a special itinerary devised specifically for him and instead of lunching with the players and staff at the hotel yesterday, was whisked off in a posh-looking van to conduct interviews with the national media in Latvia and to meet with some high-ranking officials.
The idea of the tour is clearly to allow Valery Belokon to publicise Blackpool FC to the Latvian people - and after the money Mr B has pumped in, no one can have a problem with that.
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Weather for Blackpool
Wednesday 30 May 2012
Today
Cloudy
Temperature: 12 C to 20 C
Wind Speed: 12 mph
Wind direction: West
Tomorrow
Cloudy
Temperature: 12 C to 16 C
Wind Speed: 18 mph
Wind direction: West
