Ian Holloway claims referees' group apologised for 'blatant mistakes' during season Blackpool were relegated from Premier League

Ian Holloway and Charlie Adam applaud the Blackpool fans after the Seasiders' relegation was confirmed at Old Trafford

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The Seasiders were relegated from the top flight during the 2010/11 season after finishing just one point behind Wolves, following a final-day defeat to Manchester United.

Holloway’s side ended the season on 39 points, which in most other seasons would be enough for clubs to survive.

Holloway, appearing on Sky Sports’ Goals on Sunday programme over the weekend, said there were “blatant” refereeing mistakes that cost Blackpool nine points over the course of the season.

He revealed he was sent a letter from the Referees' Association when the campaign came to a close apologising for the errors.

Holloway said: “The end of that season I got a letter, and I kept it, from the Referees’ Association saying: ‘Sorry there were some blatant mistakes in your games and we cost you nine points. We've used the footage to try and improve our lads.’

“Nine points! We got relegated on the last day against Manchester United. We were 2-1 up with 20 minutes to go and we lost 4-2 and we got relegated by one point. We had 39 points.”