Brett Ormerod’s parking woes and Jim McAlister’s jealousy: Things you might have missed from Blackpool’s friendly against Rangers

It was Giovanni van Bronckorst’s side who came out on top, edging an even game 2-1 in front of a packed crowd, with around 8,000 Gers fans making the trip.

But Michael Appleton was certainly encouraged by what he saw from his side, who now have just two friendlies to play before the real stuff gets underway.

Here’s a few things you might have missed from Saturday’s encounter:

Super Brett’s woes

While you should never laugh at other peoples’ misfortune, I couldn’t help but raise a smile when Gazette columnist Brett Ormerod, on commentary duty for Tangerine TV, stormed into the press room with his phone glued to his ear at half-time. The Blackpool legend was attempting, to no avail, to pay for parking after failing to register his card details online. “What happened to good old parking meters?!”, Brett said as he marched back to the press box. Only Brett…

Jim’s jealousy

Jim McAlister was back in town yesterday as part of Rangers’ kit staff, a role he’s held at his boyhood club since retiring from playing last year. The former midfielder would inevitably have been impressed by the new surroundings at Bloomfield Road, having departed in 2018, a year before the Oystons were ousted. McAlister made almost 70 appearances for the Seasiders during a three-year stint and will no doubt have plenty of stories to tell about the final few years of the Oyston regime. McAlister had time to poke a bit of fun at the “old Blackpool” so to speak, with a little dig at the old pitch surface. “Never seen as much grass on this pitch”, McAlister posted on his Instagram stories, including a shocked face emoji alongside the “OK” hand gesture. The pitch does look in great nick, to be fair…

Bringing the colour

I know we’re all supposed to condemn the use of pyrotechnics, smoke bombs and the like but when used correctly and safely (i.e. not lobbing them onto the pitch or into a crowd of people), I can’t help but be impressed. A group of Rangers supporters, all dressed in white t-shirts and housed behind the goal, brightened up the South Stand midway through the first-half with an eye-catching display of blue, red and white. Although saying that, it does make a bit of a mockery of stewards confiscating bottle tops, while dozens of other supporters are able to waltz into the ground with smoke bombs and flares hidden on themselves! While on the topic of Rangers fans, it’s only right we commend their behaviour. They travelled in their thousands to the Fylde coast, with many invading the home ends as well, and were clearly in jovial spirits. But they were friendly and respectful and, as far as I’m aware, there were no incidents reported, certainly no serious ones anyway. They made a run-of-the-mill friendly feel like a game of significance because of the noise and atmosphere they brought, so fair play. The pitch actually resembled a crèche at full-time with hordes of young Rangers fans sprinting past the stewards to grab a selfie with their favourite heroes. One boy even tried it while the game was still happening!