Blackpool in the Premier League 10 years on: Manchester United postponement leaves Ian Holloway feeling flat

This weekend a decade ago should have seen one of the most eagerly anticipated games of the season for Seasiders supporters – Manchester United’s visit to Bloomfield Road. Alas the weather had other ideas but there was no shortage of stories to keep The Gazette’s STEVE CANAVAN busy.....

The Bloomfield Road clash was postponed on Friday afternoon after a pitch inspection by referee Peter Walton.

He deemed the frozen surface unplayable and believed there was no chance of it being fit to stage the game the following evening.

However, the weather had improved by Saturday morning, leaving Holloway wondering whether the biggest match on the Fylde coast for 40 years should have gone ahead after all.

“I can’t tell you how frustrated I was when it was called off – I was devastated,” said the Seasiders boss.

“I had about 20 people coming from various places to watch the match forstarters.

“One mate of mine was coming over from America and it was going to be his first game of football – or soccer as they call it.

“Unfortunately we had to take him toWigan instead!

“I feel really sorry for the fans too because they had been looking forward to the match for so long.

“The whole of the town was so excited. I rang to try to arrange accommodation for five or six people who rang me late and I couldn’t get a B&B or a hotel room anywhere.

“It was absolutely buzzing and that’s why the sense of anti-climax after it was called off was unbelievable.

“But it was called off on the Friday and it was much colder then than it was on Saturday.

“I walked outside on Saturday morning and didn’t even need my coat. It was raining and I swear we could have got it on.

“But never mind. We live to fight another day and we will put it on after Christmas. It is just disappointing for everybody and the people I feel most sorry for are the fans.”

The postponement will mean an extra game in the schedule, not something Holloway is too pleased about.

“I was desperate to get it on because the last thing you want is extra games tucked in midweek, but unfortunately that is what is going to happen now,” he said.

“I wanted United to play at our place on a weekend because there would have been something really special about it.”

Elsewhere, Sir Alex Ferguson has branded Blackpool skipper Charlie Adam one of the best players in the Premier League.

The Manchester United manager won’t get the chance to watch his fellow Scot at close quarters after the clubs’ first top-flight meeting since 1971 fell victim to the weather.

That hasn’t stopped Fergie heaping praise on the Seasiders, and particularly, skipper Adam and manager Holloway.

Fergie’s gushing praise won’t do anything to ease Holloway’s fears over a possible Premier League bidding war for his star player in next month’s transfer window.

Ferguson said: “What is happening at Blackpool is unbelievable.

“Ian Holloway has done a fantastic job. He brought Charlie Adam down from Glasgow when nobody seemed to want him.

“He is one of the best players in the league. He is having a fantastic season.”

His own side may have hammered seven past Blackburn last weekend but Ferguson felt the Seasiders were also hugely impressive last Saturday, despite letting a two-goal lead slip at Bolton.

“They could have been five up before Bolton had a shot on goal,” Ferguson added.

“They are attacking every team. They are having a go and they are scoring goals. What more can you say about them?

“He has taken a chance on players and they are rewarding him for giving them an opportunity to play in the Premier League.”

Among those to receive his big chance from Holloway this season is defender Craig Cathcart.

The 21-year-old spent five years at Old Trafford without making a single senior appearance, but instantly established himself as a first-team regular alongside Ian Evatt at the heart of the Pool defence and is now a full Northern Ireland international.

Ferguson added: “Ian took Craig Cathcart from us. He is a terrific lad and a good player. He also got him for a song.

“Ian has done his homework very well and is getting his rewards for it.”

Holloway this week described Cathcart as “possibly my best player”, a tribute which will only strengthen Cathcart’s belief that he made the right decision to quit the Red Devils.

The 21-year-old has been one of Pool’s star performers this season and has caught the eye of a number of clubs.

Cathcart decided to leave United because he couldn’t see a way past first-teamers like Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic.

“I could have stayed there and been a squad player, but with the 25-man squad ruling that would have been very difficult and I wanted to play football every week,” he said.

Adam and co almost spent this week applying suntan cream and having a paddle in the Mediterranean.

Unfortunately for them, Holloway decided that wouldn’t be the best way to prepare for Manchester United, so they stayed on the freezing Fylde instead.

Chairman Karl Oyston had arranged for the squad to go for some warm weather training in Marbella, but after mulling over the idea, Holloway decided it wasn’t right.

“I had a choice to take them abroad and let them train in the sun on some good surfaces,” he revealed.

“But I just didn’t think that would have been the right preparation at all.

“It shows how far we’ve come as a club, though, that the chairman had it all set up. I appreciate that but I didn’t think it would be right for this game.

“So we stayed in the cold to prepare and I think our preparations have been good.

“Were the players upset they couldn’t go to get some sunshine? I don’t care. It is what I decided.”

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