Mixed blessing for Blackpool midfielder? Ten years on from the Seasiders' promotion to the Premier League

We’re dipping into the archives each day to bring you STEVE CANAVAN’S Gazette reports from a decade ago on Blackpool’s remarkable journey to the promised land.

Ten years ago, one Pool player contemplated the TV spotlight but also paid tribute to his manager...

Keith Southern is looking forward to next season’s weekly appearances on Match of the Day with pride – and a little fear.

As well as taking on the best clubs in the country from August, Southern and his fellow Seasiders will have to get used to the TV pundits poring over their every move on the pitch.

The midfielder said: “One of the things I thought about after Wembley is that it will be nice to be on Match of the Day every week. My little lad will be able to watch his dad hopefully.

“Mind you, I am not looking forward to Alan Hansen’s comments!”

But Southern’s thoughts after winning the man of the match award in the play-off final victory over Cardiff were for manager Ian Holloway.

The award capped a terrific season for the midfielder, his eighth at Bloomfield Road – only Danny Coid has been there longer.

Southern said: “When I came off the pitch at the end I just said thank you to Ollie for what he has done for me personally this season and what he has done for the lads.

“He has moved the club forward tenfold and he was the catalyst behind everything we achieved last season.

“I made a point of thanking him personally because I probably had the best season in my life.

“I didn’t miss a game, I was as fit as a fiddle throughout and who knows what next season will bring?”

Southern’s length of service means he knows exactly what promotion means to the club and the town.

Weeks after the event, he is still just as delighted to have helped the Seasiders back to the top flight for the first time since the days when Jimmy Armfield was still turning out at right-back.

Southern added: “It’s absolutely frightening. We have done something this club hasn’t done for 40 years.

“We have achieved something not many in this life get to achieve and it is just such an honest, hard-working group of players that they deserve everything they get.

“There is not one ego or big-time Charlie in the dressing room and it is just fantastic for the football club to do what it did.

“Everybody will benefit – the players, the club and the whole area.

“Tourism will improve and so will business because we are a Premier League football club now.

“It is a fantastic prospect for the area really.”