BST column: Disappointing league season, remembering two Seasiders family members and thanks to Blackpool's behind-the-scenes staff

A thoroughly wretched season is now at an end and, for most of us, the sooner it is a distant speck in the rear view mirror, the better.

After the amount of investment last summer, to find ourselves deep in relegation trouble as late as April was beyond disappointing.

It is hardly surprising that changes at the top of the club have already begun, with CEO Julian Winter’s departure being announced shortly after our win at Reading on Saturday.

The club’s initial response has been to promote David Downes and Nick Horne into new roles: we are assuming that other changes will follow.

We wish both of them well and will support them in any way that we can. They have a big job to do.

It would be easy to overlook the significant role that Blackpool fans have played in recent weeks in our struggle to avoid relegation.

Their response to owner Simon Sadler’s plea for support – and a well-judged cut-price deal on match tickets – was magnificent and must have played a key part in our winning the last five home games of the season.

Without those wins, the club would have been in a lot of trouble. It does serve to emphasise that there is potential for the club’s support to grow, if it comes up with imaginative approaches to pricing that local people can afford.

On a more sombre note, it is now nearly a month since the Seasiders’ family suffered a double loss.

Lifelong fan Graham Sharman passed away after being taken ill during our home game with Peterborough.

Our thoughts remain with his family. We hope that they will have taken a measure of comfort from the fact that, at the time of his passing, he was doing one of the things he loved best – roaring the ‘Pool on to an important victory. He will be missed.

At much the same time came the very sad news that ex-Pool manager Tony Parkes had also passed away.

Tony was one of the archetypal quiet men of football and best known for his illustrious career at Blackburn Rovers.

For Blackpool fans though, he was instrumental in ensuring that our return to the second tier of English football after 29 long years was not a short one.

Indeed, without his success in stabilising the club, it is hard to see how the fairytale run to the Premier League would have happened at all.

A quiet man, certainly, but one of the best managers in our recent history. Like Graham, Tony will also be missed by all of us.

Another long season is over and we are reflecting with quiet satisfaction on the success of our mascot programme this year.

Once again we provided an opportunity for a local youngster to be a mascot at every one of our 23 home league games, creating a great many wonderful memories along the way.

We cannot mention the mascot programme without paying tribute to the wider team at Blackpool FC who make it possible.

The matchday crew who look after the children are simply brilliant at what they do and we are grateful also for the tireless support we get from Sarah and her team in the ticket office. It’s a very rewarding initiative for all of us.

It would be remiss of us not to also say a big thank you to Ashley Hackett, who is leaving his post as CEO at the Community Trust to take up a similar position at Manchester United.

We have greatly enjoyed working with Ashley and will miss him when he is gone.

However, he leaves behind a strong legacy in terms of the award-winning team that remains. Our work with them will go on and we hope it can be expanded next season.

That’s all from us for this season – and we wish all Gazette readers a pleasant summer.