BST column: Faces new and old dominate the last month

January is a hectic time at most football clubs; the transfer window opens and there is usually fierce competition for players.

A number of players have either left or gone out on loan elsewhere, with the most notable probably being Jordan Rhodes who went to Mansfield Town.

He was a big player for us last season and we think most fans will feel he deserves an opportunity to shine at a club that needs his experience – rivals or not.

Most of our fans’ attention though, will have been on three arrivals already having an impact.

Sammy Silvera and Niall Ennis made an instant impression with important goals.

Tom Bloxham was the big arrival and although we can’t be sure how much we paid for him, he was coveted by others – and we can see why.

After months of inconsistency, the team is now starting to look very hard to beat.

We are still drawing too many matches but, with a stream of home games coming up this month and next, we have a real chance to force our way back into play-off contention.

February is a notable month for Pool fans of a certain age and the reason why can be summed up in two words: Mickey Walsh.

His late winner against Sunderland on February 1, 1975 was voted Match of the Day’s “Goal of the Season” later that year.

Pool fans were not going to let the 50th anniversary of this feat go uncelebrated and more than 300 of them came together to do so.

Nearly 20 of his colleagues also joined him for an event that did proper justice to the goal and his place in club folklore.

It was also good to see the club host his family on the anniversary itself, when we played Charlton Athletic.

We’d like to pay particular tribute to John Cross for his work in organising this event, especially as we understand that he is not well at the moment.

John, all your colleagues at BST thank you for this and all the many other things you do for fellow Blackpool fans. We hope you are fully recovered soon.

February is another busy month for us on the community front.

Our mascot for the home game with Mansfield Town has been donated to our charity partners at Home Start.

How do we afford this? Mainly, through the money we raise from our 1953 Sweepstake which you can join by visiting https://www.blackpoolsupporterstrust.com/1953-sweepstake

We have also had very productive discussions with BFCCT to see what we can do collaboratively to support armed forces veterans in the Blackpool area.

Regular readers may remember we donated match tickets to this cause on the Armistice Day weekend in November, but we are looking to do significantly more.

We will say more about this in due course, but would like to thank Pool fan and veteran Ray Gregson for stepping forward to help us.

It is not the first time that Ray has led for us on this vital work and we are very pleased to be working with him again. Welcome back Ray.

All in all, a busy month. We expect more will follow!