Blackpool legend compares current Premier League manager to Bloomfield Road great- as he discusses Luton Town's edge over Burnley and Sheffield United

It’d be very difficult for a side like our Blackpool team to go up and have an impact now. You’ve got Brentford who have done brilliantly, but they were a top team when they got promoted- they had a lot of internationals; we were full of lads who had just lost their way and older players, so that’d be impossible nowadays.

The Premier League was always an absolute battle, no matter which team I was with, there were no easy games. You can’t afford to make mistakes because you get punished. The money is just astronomical now- it’s off the charts. You only need to sign one deal as a player and you’re a multi-millionaire at a top club.

Luton Town have a lot in common with Blackpool, of course Rob Edwards is a massive key, there’s a lot of Ian Holloway in his team, it’s the same with Ian Evatt when I watch Bolton- they’ve taken inspiration from him.

Football has moved on, there’s different shapes and stuff, but you can see it in the team spirit and the togetherness they have.

Luton are giving it a massive go, their advantage is their home ground. I look at them, and they embrace their manager like we embraced Holloway. They’ll run through a brick wall for Rob and that’s a fantastic sign of man-management. They’ve still got a chance, and no one gave them a shout. Out of the three teams that came up, no one would’ve picked them over Burnley and Sheffield United.

With Blackpool, we fell short at the end when we went down, but we always attacked. We drew games we should’ve won, and we lost games we should’ve drawn because we were going for it instead of having a plan b.

We went down by one point in the end, but a couple of seasons after that tally would’ve kept us miles safe. Rob was a massive part of our dressing room, so maybe that's the little bit of edge Luton have got on Burnley and Sheffield United, and the way they’ve done it- they’ve replicated what we did. Everyone will be hoping they can do it.

Football used to be a working class man’s game, but it’s not now, it’s a global thing, and that won’t change now.

The gap is bigger for teams coming up- in terms of quality and money. There’s lots of different factors involved. If Burnley and Sheffield United do go down, then they’ll suddenly become the big boys in the Championship, because they’ll have money to keep their squad together and add to it.

I don’t think it’s a poisoned chalice. If you could guarantee going down and coming back up every year, then it’s better than just surviving in the Premier League. Clubs earned a hell of a lot of money doing it, it's just when they couldn’t get themselves back up that they started to struggle.