Smiling Valeri Belokon looks forward to having last laugh with Blackpool: Rise to the Premier League remembered 10 years on

Over the coming weeks, we’ll be dipping into the archives to bring you STEVE CANAVAN’S Gazette reports from a decade ago on Blackpool’s remarkable journey to the promised land.

Ten years ago, the Seasiders were reflecting on how far they had come...

Valeri Belokon was giggled at when he arrived at Blackpool FC and announced he was aiming for the Premier League in five years.

But with Pool in the Championship’s top six and aiming to secure their play-off spot against Bristol City at a sellout Bloomfield Road tomorrow, the Latvian is having the last laugh.

Seasiders president Belokon is delighted the club are challenging for the top flight ... as he predicted from the word go.

That was in 2006, when Pool were languishing in League One and not looking like going anywhere fast.

The Latvian’s financial investment coupled with the managerial skills of Simon Grayson, then Ian Holloway, has helped the club advance quicker than anyone dared hope and has left them with a chance of realising the president’s five-year ambition in four.

Belokon told The Gazette: “I like it when people laugh, no matter what the reason is, so such a reaction to my plans about getting in the Premier League did not hurt my feelings. And now I am very glad that the words ‘Blackpool’ and ‘Premier League’ go together more and more frequently, with some doubt maybe but without any exaggeration.

“But since I am used to working with finances I do not like assumptions and rough estimates.

“It is impossible to be almost in the Premier League, we are either there or we are not.

“The quality of play this season has been very good. I believe there is still room for improvement, especially if we remember the better days of BFC and the 1953 FA Cup Final.

“But I am very fond of the players and their fighting spirit.

“The manager is very ambitious and determined, and he has done a very good job.

“ I consider success as creating a team that can succeed. In football, that is achieved by two simple things – the ability to score and win games. This task, in my opinion, has been fulfilled.”

If Belokon rates the job Holloway is doing, the feeling is mutual.

Heading into tomorrow’s crucial match, the Seasiders manager said: “How lucky have I been that Mr Belokon and Mr Owen Oyston have actually funded this club, more than they should have done really on its gates?

“The first player I signed here was for £500,000 that’s more than I’ve spent anywhere else. What I’m pleased with is that I’ve felt all along that this is a very strong club and a good club.

“Where we are in the table proves that, I think.

“What we do need is a lot more bums on seats week in, week out, but the better we get at playing our football the more people will come to watch because it will be worth watching.

“To me it is still about the performance. I believe that if we do get the performance right, it will get us the right result; if we don’t, we’ll not get anything.”