VIDEO CONTAINS STRONG LANGUAGE: Protests overshadow a routine Rovers win

The FA and the Football League have stood by while disenchanted football supporters across the land have been brought to the edge of despair at the way they perceive their clubs as being run.

That was in evidence at Ewood Park where two once-proud Lancastrian clubs played out a drab game in front of a sparse and soulless crowd more akin to a reserve fixture.

Just six years ago a crowd of 27,000 watched the two clubs do battle at Ewood Park in the Premier League, while 15,000 were there in 2015 when they played in Blackpool’s last season in the Championship.

On Saturday, just over 9,000 were officially inside the ground – 1,605 of them Blackpool fans – in a real sign of the disenfranchisement among the two sets of supporters.

Had this fourth round tie been played under what be considered ‘normal circumstances’, that away end would have been packed with men, women and children proudly donning tangerine.

It’s not just Blackpool and Blackburn Rovers who are suffering. Take one quick glance at the headlines from Saturday’s fixtures and you will have seen Coventry’s game at Northampton being disrupted by protests from the visiting supporters against their owners.

The game was held up several times through flares being thrown onto the pitch and some Coventry supporters coming onto the playing area.

While there wasn’t the same level of disruption at Ewood Park, it was the protests outside the ground that will have caught the eye from those on the outside looking in rather than the game itself.

The rival supporters, undeterred by the heavy rain, stood side-by-side to take part in a joint protest both before and during the game over what organisers described as the ‘wanton destruction’ of their respective clubs.

To their credit, their protest was peaceful and their message – “we want our clubs back” – was rammed home forcefully. It was hard not to be moved as their feelings of anger hit home.

A number of their chants were aimed at the FA – and rightfully so. They are the first to say the so-called beautiful game is all about the fans, yet where are they when the fans are pleading for their help?

The only disruption to proceedings on the field of play was when dozens of tennis balls were thrown onto the pitch from outside the stadium which caused the game to be halted for a brief moment.

The prying eyes of the national media were present and they weren’t interested in the outcome of the game. I’d imagine the Blackpool fans will have shrugged their shoulders at the result too.

On the pitch Blackburn eased into the fifth round courtesy of what was a fairly routine 2-0 win on home turf.

Rovers aren’t the best Championship side you’ll ever see, as seen by their lowly league position, but they didn’t have to do a great deal to pick up the win.

The Seasiders started the game in a negative mindset, by sitting back on the edge of their own area, which only invited pressure and set the tone for the rest of the game.

After promising striker Sam Gallagher rose above Pool keeper Sam Slocombe to head home into an empty net with just 10 minutes on the clock, the game was virtually as good as done.

Pool’s fate was all but confirmed when Elliott Bennett struck an exquisite, dipping 30-yard strike flying into the top corner in a moment of quality at odds with the rest of the football on offer.

The men in tangerine were given some extra motivation to get back in the game in the second half after Kelvin Mellor’s brainless dismissal when the right-back was sent his marching orders for two needless bookings in the space of just five minutes.

This moment of madness spurred Blackpool into action and they almost reduced arrears when a cross into the Blackburn box found Will Aimson free at the back post, but he could only loop his header against the crossbar.

They huffed and puffed in the final moments but the damage had been done in the first half.

Blackpool are now out of all the cup competitions and their FA Cup exit could prove to be a blessing in disguise. They have 20 league games to focus on now and there’s no excuse not to launch a late push for the top seven.

The main aim is promotion; that’s the line the Blackpool squad have repeated all season. Well now is the time to put those words into practice.