Gary Taylor-Fletcher column: Blackpool fans’ feedback made for interesting reading

I recently ran a poll on my Twitter page asking my followers which was the best Blackpool side during our era under Ian Holloway.
Tom Ince and Matt PhillipsTom Ince and Matt Phillips
Tom Ince and Matt Phillips

I was quite surprised that Blackpool fans voted for the side that played in the Premier League during the 2010/11 season, as I actually thought that was the weakest of the three.

It’s tough to say it’s the weakest because we were obviously playing against much better teams and players.

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But as a squad, that was the one that was probably lacking a little bit right the way through.

The January transfer window didn’t help as there was only really Jason Puncheon that came in which was seen as a positive.

In all the other seasons, when we did strengthen, it was always with quality players that helped improve the team – or at least offered something to the team.

It was interesting to get that insight into what people were thinking.

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That 2011/12 team that lost in the Championship play-off final was a great side, we had some great attacking players.

Looking through the squad, just look at the amount of players we had at the top end of the pitch – we could name all different types of front threes.

We started the season with myself, Tom Ince and Matt and Kevin Phillips as a front four, although every so often, Ollie would give Kev a rest and bring someone else in or even move things to a front three.

Towards the back end of the season, Stephen Dobbie came back and it was myself, Incey, Matty and Dobbie as the front four.

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Unfortunately I got my injury, otherwise that probably would have been the front four that started at Wembley against West Ham.

There were some great players in that team and Incey and Matty have gone on to have great careers while Kevin had already had a brilliant career, but it was just unfortunate he was just coming to the back end of his career while he was at Blackpool.

Dobbie as well, what a player he was for us. He was probably one of the strikers I gelled with the most because we had a really good relationship with each other on the pitch.

I was the main striker with him in just behind, but the amount of times we swapped and moved things about worked really well for us. That helped Tom and Matty get the space in behind.

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Stephen’s still going strong and there’s every chance he will carry on until he’s 40 given the way he looks after himself. He’s got that in his locker to carry on doing it.

I’d still be playing if it wasn’t for other things that happened with opportunities and stuff like that, so I’d say to anyone who’s coming to the end of their career to play for as long as you can and don’t give up too soon.

I took part in a podcast recently with some Blackpool fans which was a great experience.

We did a live session on Friday night where I answered some questions as well.

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It was really good to go through my career, because it wasn’t just about Blackpool although that dominated a lot of it.

Being in lockdown, it gives you the chance to reflect on your achievements which is always interesting. It’s always great to connect with the Blackpool fans as well.

It took us about seven hours in all to get through everything, so there should be plenty for you should you wish to give it a listen!

Any fans that tune in will appreciate what we talked about and all the things that have happened since.

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In other news, I was happy to see the EFL state they want to finish the current season in 56 days.

I’ve always said, no matter what, we need to finish this season before we even think about starting the next one.

There’s a lot of ramifications and I’m not just saying that because I’m a Liverpool fan.

Take Sheffield United, for example, in the Premier League. Look at the season they’ve had, they’ve got a chance to qualify for Europe.

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If the season is declared null and void, they could be getting relegated next season. What a massive difference that would be.

All these teams down the bottom will be thinking they want to stop the season now because they might stay up.

But they have to finish the season before they look at anything else.

The EFL has also said they hope to see clubs return to training on May 16.

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The lockdown is for another three weeks, which takes us to May 7. But as long as people are being sensible and staying indoors you’d like to think we might come out of lockdown at that point.

But no-one knows what’s going to happen.

People are saying footballers can’t play every three or four days, but it’s what you do in pre-season so it’s just going to be like another mini pre-season – just at a lot higher intensity.

They can have the rest after those 56 days to ensure those last 10 or 11 games are played. I don’t see why that’s a problem and I don’t think any of the players will mind either.