Ten-year anniversary of Blackpool's promotion to the Premier League: Ian Holloway on his delight at Championship survival, 'outstanding' Charlie Adam and Brett Ormerod's return from illness

Each day, The Gazette’s football writer Matt Scrafton is dipping into the archives to bring you our reports from a decade ago on Blackpool’s remarkable journey to the promised land.

On this day 10 years ago, Ian Holloway was looking upwards after a memorable Bloomfield Road win...

Ian Holloway set his Blackpool side the new target of beating their previous season’s points tally after the Seasiders claimed their 11th home win of the season in emphatic style.

Blackpool thrashed play-off rivals Swansea 5-1 at Bloomfield Road to move onto 54 points with seven games of the season still remaining.

That is a big deal because with 53 points generally regarded as being definitely safe, it means Holloway’s side don’t have to worry about relegation.

This is a stark contrast to the last two seasons in the Championship and is a sweet moment for the manager.

Holloway said: “We are definitely safe. We’ve got 54 points and it means we can stop looking around us. There should be no nerves any more.

“It feels good to know that we are going to be a Championship side next year. But I want to be a good one.

“For me now there’s a new target. We got 56 points last year, so we need to beat that.

“I’d like to beat last year’s tally by quite a few points and if we do it then you never know.

“Let’s set our sights as high as we possibly can and see what we can achieve.

“The players have been terrific all season. I’m not going to talk about the play-offs, but let’s have a run at the line. You never know in this life.”

Asked if the win against Swansea was the best performance he had seen from his team this season, Holloway replied: “I don’t know if it’s the best. To be honest, we could have kept the ball better.

“We really did throw it away by going too long at times.

“The balance wasn’t always right because we got too close to Ben Burgess and couldn’t pass it. But the important thing for me was to see a response after the first half against Crystal Palace on Saturday, which I was very disappointed with.

“I told them who was in the stand and watching, all the scouts that were at the game.

“Apart from the Royal family every man and his dog was here. They were either watching Swansea or us, so I told them to give a performance.

“Sometimes that can put your mind off what you’re doing but it didn’t. The response from my lads was absolutely brilliant.”

Charlie Adam didn’t add to his impressive goal tally of 15 for the season but he did add to his growing reputation.

With dozens of scouts watching, the 24-year-old had another fine game in the centre of the Seasiders midfield.

And Holloway said he will eat his hat if Adam doesn’t get in the next Scotland squad.

“Charlie grabbed the game by the scruff of the neck and if Craig Levein doesn’t think he is good enough to play for Scotland I will eat my hat,” said the Seasiders boss.

“Charlie has been absolutely outstanding.”

Keith Southern, the man alongside Adam in midfield, also earned praise from the manager.

“Keith was outstanding too,” said Holloway. “People moan and say ‘Why are you playing (striker Ben) Burgess?’ but it’s all about balance.

“You can play as many good footballers as you like, but if they don’t get hold of the ball or don’t get a challenge in you can’t do anything.

“Last night was a good old northern performance. Northern boys like their gravy and I’m beginning to love it!”

Who knows what that last sentence means, but it’s clear Holloway is loving every minute of this season.

Brett Ormerod, meanwhile, capped his return from illness to bag two goals in Blackpool’s sweet win.

In usual Brett style, the forward went into a bit too much detail when asked just how poorly he had been feeling.

“I hadn’t been well all day,” he said. “There has been a bit of a bug going around.

“My missus has had it and big Ben Burgess had it on Saturday. I won’t give you the exact details but I spent most of yesterday on the toilet.”

A delighted Ian Holloway said: “What can I say about Brett?

“He’s an absolutely brilliant player. I am so pleased I’ve got him at my club and playing for me.”