Reaction to being a Blackpool fan

My barber in Manchester legitimately asked me in complete sincerity:
"Oh Blackpool? What league they in now, the conference?"

I chalked it up to that he is kind of a football fan but not really, maybe supported City when he was younger but takes no more than a passing interest in it now. Made me chuckle though, the ** conference!
 
Another at work (City fan) asked me who I support, he knew I'm from Blackpool so when I told him Blackpool he went "oh yeah.. obviously"

I had to explain to him it isn't that obvious actually as there are plenty of plastics!
 
Living in Birmingham for 30 years, I get I didn’t think you sounded like you were from round here. Thank God I reply. Birmingham fans were thin on the ground a few weeks ago.
 
AmericanTangerine said:
Fair question; started following football after the 2010 World Cup, only matches that were watchable at that time were United's so I was a United fan until they played Blackpool at Bloomers during that Prem season.

Before the match started I didn't know much except that Blackpool were tinpot and had a crazy manager, watched the game and by Halftime I was fully rooting for Blackpool, the style of play was brave and the fans genuinely shocked me at how good they were so it was impossible not to get behind them.

As we all know, we were robbed of the points that night, but I walked away feeling like I just had to support them, there was something special there that I couldn't pass up. It felt like there was an entire philosophy oozing from the fans to the team and that philosophy was to be courageous and not accept things for how they are, Blackpool were easily the smallest club in the Prem that year, but they never once accepted that and played down to how people expected us to play.

Years followed and that same philosophy resonated again, but this time off the pitch with the fans boycotting, seeing everyone come together to try to get the club back was genuinely one of the most moving things I've seen in my life and it again confirmed that philosophy of never accepting things for how they are and reaffirmed my belief that this was the club I needed to support.

This club truly is one of a kind and no one can say anything different. 🍊
Click to expand...
Yep and even back then given the lack of investment and proper facilities we weren't anywhere near our potential. Tinpot in so many ways as you say.

Now under SS we're growing again but this time with infrastructure coming too and we run things professionally.

The fans were loud and passionate always but its on another level now and I still feel more to come, of we could fill the NE stand with home fans for eg.

If we went on that journey to the prem again under Simon, it'd be a whole different ball game. We know the money would change the club forever then.

Whats it like watching games fom the US? TTV package? Were you big on football before, are there still things that seem odd about the game, town or people? Things that might need explaining? Do friends or family know or ask why us?

Where abouts in the US?

Sorry for all the questions 😬
 
JJpool said:
Yep and even back then given the lack of investment and proper facilities we weren't anywhere near our potential. Tinpot in so many ways as you say.

Now under SS we're growing again but this time with infrastructure coming too and we run things professionally.

The fans were loud and passionate always but its on another level now and I still feel more to come, of we could fill the NE stand with home fans for eg.

If we went on that journey to the prem again under Simon, it'd be a whole different ball game. We know the money would change the club forever then.

Whats it like watching games fom the US? TTV package? Were you big on football before, are there still things that seem odd about the game, town or people? Things that might need explaining? Do friends or family know or ask why us?

Where abouts in the US?

Sorry for all the questions 😬
Click to expand...

No worries at all about the questions, I love answering! And 100% agree, we don't have the infrastructure to leap into the Prem yet, but once we get the training ground and stadium sorted, I think we will all start to seriously dream again...

And honestly watching in the States now has never been easier, it still blows my mind at the the rate at which the popularity has grown here. I'd honestly say after the NFL and NBA, footy is easily 3rd so there are so many outlets to watch on.

I of course have TTV which is fantastic, but the games that aren't shown there are shown on ESPN+.

The 5 hour time difference is a massive advantage IMO, because having games kick off at 10am means I get to wake up immediately to the footy and then get the rest of the day to either sulk over the result or happily do something else because we've won. I live in Washington, D.C. and there are actually quite a few bars that show footie in the morning so I'll occasionally go to one, watch the 'Pool game on my phone while watching other matches simultaneously.

I wasn't big on football before that 2010 World Cup and then watching Blackpool play in that Prem season made me love the game more than I ever could have expected and at this point I'd like to think that I know a decent amount about the game (I've become somewhat of a Football Manager addict and I read just about every piece of advanced data I can find) 😅

And funnily enough I don't think the town itself is odd at all, because in the States I grew up in a city called Virginia Beach, which I think is very similar to Blackpool in many aspects. Virginia Beach is a town that had its hayday many decades ago that people haven't given respect to in modern times with very eccentric people (if that doesn't sound similar to Blackpool then I am sorry for the mischaracterization!). I genuinely can't wait to visit Blackpool because I think I'll quite literally feel at home.

My friends just about know why I support them at this point and I will honestly say I have easily made hundreds of people support Blackpool as their second team! 🍊
 
Most surprising one for me came in the early 90's in Gran Canaria. Met a nice older cockney couple. He told me he was a Spurs ST holder & asked me who my team was. When I replied he said "not bloody Blackpool" 😳.
Now I knew we'd beaten them in the '53 FA Cup semi final (my dad was there) but hadn't realised we'd done them in one of the previous semi's as well. Bill obviously hadn't let it go 😆.
Bearing in mind how shit the 80's were for BFC I was chuffed when he said over 60,000 at Villa Park & equal number of Spurs & Pool fans.
 
AmericanTangerine said:
No worries at all about the questions, I love answering! And 100% agree, we don't have the infrastructure to leap into the Prem yet, but once we get the training ground and stadium sorted, I think we will all start to seriously dream again...

And honestly watching in the States now has never been easier, it still blows my mind at the the rate at which the popularity has grown here. I'd honestly say after the NFL and NBA, footy is easily 3rd so there are so many outlets to watch on.

I of course have TTV which is fantastic, but the games that aren't shown there are shown on ESPN+.

The 5 hour time difference is a massive advantage IMO, because having games kick off at 10am means I get to wake up immediately to the footy and then get the rest of the day to either sulk over the result or happily do something else because we've won. I live in Washington, D.C. and there are actually quite a few bars that show footie in the morning so I'll occasionally go to one, watch the 'Pool game on my phone while watching other matches simultaneously.

I wasn't big on football before that 2010 World Cup and then watching Blackpool play in that Prem season made me love the game more than I ever could have expected and at this point I'd like to think that I know a decent amount about the game (I've become somewhat of a Football Manager addict and I read just about every piece of advanced data I can find) 😅

And funnily enough I don't think the town itself is odd at all, because in the States I grew up in a city called Virginia Beach, which I think is very similar to Blackpool in many aspects. Virginia Beach is a town that had its hayday many decades ago that people haven't given respect to in modern times with very eccentric people (if that doesn't sound similar to Blackpool then I am sorry for the mischaracterization!). I genuinely can't wait to visit Blackpool because I think I'll quite literally feel at home.

My friends just about know why I support them at this point and I will honestly say I have easily made hundreds of people support Blackpool as their second team! 🍊
Click to expand...
Awesome 😏

As for Blackpool its one of those easy targets for criticism from people with an agenda or who don't actually know the town, only the small area they have seen sometimes years ago. It does have some issues in need of sorting for sure but with the nature of the town there high highs and low lows. There's so much to do, entertainment, excitement, tons of attractions, shows, great coastline. When the weathers nice it all makes sense and there's not many better places than the front on a nice day. There's still the issue of a street back from the front with deprivation, but sadly the worst area is in an area tourists can see.

There's many nice areas they hardly ever go, like round the class Stanley Park, voted best Park in the UK only a couple years ago. Nice areas of South shore, more rural area of south shore, north shore etc. But tourists never see that because they are all focused in the central area.

The people probably are a bit mad, they do say we are the nutters, we come from the sea 😆 But some really good people from the area, a lot of the issues come from others town idiots coming for fun or moving permanently. Thats one of the downfalls of being an attraction, people want to escape their boring town and often bring issues with them.

The town centre gets some stick, but has improved massively, lots going on and some great restaurants, a lot of shops have had new frontages and some streets improved, with much more in the pipeline like the multiversity and moving workforces to the centre to increase footfall and generate more spend. Also going up at the moment the new cinema complex again to get more people into town and that should generate more for the shops.

There's also a great history, rising fast from nothing to become the UK's top seaside resort and there's some great architecture and buildings like the tower, piers, winter Gardens, grand theatre.

As for Blackpool fc its a club where something always seem to be happening, never a dull moment. A fantastic team to follow and the support has only been getting better and louder, hopefully that continues to improve with even more attending.
 
Last edited:
Danny Dyer told me he was "Proud of me" for sticking with my home town club and not supporting a Prem Team !

In 2019 a waiter in a Turkish hotel who claimed he had played professionally in Azerbijan for 6 years and was now training to be a football coach (I thought yea yea of course you are), he asked who I supported and he instantly said that he loved the 2009/10 team and the midfield duo of Adams and Vaughn and loved the aggressive way we had played our fullbacks, he knew about the boycott and the demise of the club in subsequent years !

Over 1,000 people asking me "yea but what Premier Team do you support ?"
 
JJpool said:
Awesome 😏

As for Blackpool its one of those easy targets for criticism from people with an agenda or who don't actually know the town, only the small area they have seen sometimes years ago. It does have some issues in need of sorting for sure but with the nature of the town there high highs and low lows. There's so much to do, entertainment, excitement, tons of attractions, shows, great coastline. When the weathera nice it all makes sense and there not many better places than the front on a nice day. There's still the issue of a street back from the front with deprivation, but sadly the worst area is in an area tourists can see.

There's many nice areas they hardly ever go, like round the class Stanley Park, voted best Park in the UK only a couple years ago. Nice areas of South shore, more rural area of south shore, north shore etc. But tourists never see that because they are all focused in the central area.

The people probably are a big mad, they do say we are the nutters, we come from the sea 😆 But some really good people from the area, a lot of the issues come from others town idiots coming for fun or moving permanently. Thats one of the downfalls of being an attraction, people want to escape their boring town and often bring issues with them.

The town centre gets some stick, but has improved massively, lots going on and some great restaurants, a lot of shops have had new frontages and some streets improved, with much more in the pipeline like the multiversity and moving workforces to the centre to increase footfall and generate more spend. Also going up at the moment the new cinema complex again to get more people into town and that should generate more for the shops.

There's also a great history, rising fast from nothing to become the UK's top seaside resort and there's some great architecture and buildings like the tower, piers, winter Gardens, grand theatre.

As for Blackpool fc its a club where something always seem to be happening, never a dull moment. A fantastic team to follow and the support has only been getting better and louder, hopefully that continues to improve with even more attending.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the info, I genuinely appreciated reading that, can't wait to visit!
 
Living in a small cul de sac in Cheadle Hulme( Stockport) ,there are only 6 houses,they all know who I support but I still get at worst ”which league are you in now? and at best “ how are Blackpool doing now”?
I like my neighbours but it still irks that they haven’t a clue as guess what they are either United or City.
I even doubt they have a clue how Stockport County are doing.
 
Genuine response from a client
“What are you doing this weekend”
“I support Blackpool and so am off to watch football”
“Which team are you going to support”
“Blackpool”
“Oh 🤫”
 
Aged about 15 (very early ‘80’s), I went on a school (Warbreck) footy trip to Belgium.
On discovering we’d likely get served in the bars, we hit the nearest one, to find just had a handful of old men in it.
We got served and one of the old timers asked us where we were from. When we said Blackpool, one of them shouted “Stanley Matthewwwwws!”.
Then another shouted “Stanley Mortenson”, etc., between them they probably named the whole ‘53 team.
We had a great evening with them all !
 
Because I have absolutely no connection whatsoever with the town, the question I always get asked is ‘Why do you support Blackpool!!!’
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top