'Deserve credit' - Ex-coach shares what makes Blackpool's most-famous team so special

The Seasiders are hosting a charity game at Bloomfield Road on May 17, with multiple members of the club’s 2010 Championship play-off winning team set to be in action, alongside other familiar figures from other successes over the years.

A man who knows the Blackpool inside out will be in the dugout for the fixture against The Northern All Stars team.

Steve Thompson has held multiple roles with the Seasiders over the years, and most notably served as an assistant coach to both Simon Grayson and Ian Holloway.

The 60-year-old admits he’s looking forward to reuniting with those who helped to create history in Tangerine by reaching the Premier League with a 3-2 victory over Cardiff City at Wembley Stadium.

“It’ll be great to see the lads again,” he said.

“We’re on a group chat where we keep in touch, they’re still a fantastic bunch and they deserve all of the credit they get.

“I’ve had success as a player and as a coach, but this group was a little bit special. When Ollie came in, it wasn’t expected. We knew things weren’t right off the pitch, but that brought us together a little bit.

“We had a system that suited our style of play - we had goals in the team and we were exciting to watch.

“Me and Ollie just hit it off, it was a great place to work. You never knew who was going to be in the team, we had a great dressing room, and they had that togetherness.

““I’ve heard they’ll sometimes meet up in Lytham, but with various lads living away then it’s probably hard for them. I keep in touch with a lot of them, they ring me up asking for a bit of advice, so it’s nice that they still want that.

“It’ll be great to see them back here, but it’ll be interesting to see what shape some of them come back in. I don’t know how some of them are going to last, but you know full well they’re going to go out there and take it seriously because they don’t want to make fools of themselves. Some will be in training now.

“It’s for a great cause, my wife used to work at Brian House - it’s a worthy cause, so hopefully everyone can get out and support it.”

Relationship with Holloway

Prior to linking up at Blackpool together in 2009, Thompson hadn’t worked with Holloway before, but admits things quickly clicked between the pair, as the now-Swindon Town achieved legendary status at Bloomfield Road.

“I had played against him a few times when he was at Bristol Rovers and I was at Bolton - I don’t think he was close to me, but he tried hard,” he joked.

“As soon as he came in, we just hit it off. We trusted each other. He brought some momentum and a style of play that was exciting to watch, we feared no one.

“We had a bunch of players that took us to where we wanted to go. We had the experience, ones on loan and the young ones.

“The team more or less picked itself. I was a bit like a buffer for the players to come to me to pass it on. As a number two, you try to keep all of the problems away from the manager, unless you’re desperate for him to get involved - which was very rare.

“The lads we had here gave you that feel-good factor. I always used to say ‘go and do something that we can’t coach.’

“We had match winners, we had lads that could defend, we had good talkers. We kept the ones who weren’t in the team fit because you never know when you might need them, and they bought into it as well.”

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