Blackpool

Blackpool FC: The lowest of the low?

The club that was a premier league side in 2010/11, are now just two points clear of the drop zone in League Two. Just how did it come to this?

Having suffered three relegations in five years, the free-falling Blackpool just keep on falling. A 2-1 defeat at the hands of Accrington Stanley at the weekend left the seaside club in seventeenth position.

The centre of the downward spiral has been the club’s owners – the Oyston family.

The controversial owners, who first bought the club for just £1, have been accused of running the club into the ground.

An obvious lack of investment in playing staff, off pitch training facilities and their Bloomfield Road stadium has seen the club almost become a laughing stock.                                Blackpool fans protest outside Bloomfield Road during friendly against Burnley

One of the more laughable stories to come out of the club was Robbie Fowler’s claim. The club’s hierarchy was rumoured to offer him a playing contract worth £100 a week. For a club who has received so much in parachute payments and Premier League bonuses, that figure – as a realistic prospect – just doesn’t add up.

Fans who have even asked dared to ask questions have actually been sued in some cases.

The truth is, a whole lot more could have been done to prevent this slide. More investment could have pulled the fans back and heal the poor atmosphere surrounding the club. Instead, however, Blackpool fans will continue to ask themselves what if.

A little more investment, in January 2011, could have saved their Premier League status and prevent this decline from beginning in the first place. A lot of people will tell you, that investing heavily into a club, under those circumstances, would have been risky. They had, after all, spent so many seasons in the lower divisions – meaning, survival was potentially an extremely ambitious thought.

But Blackpool was within touching distance. They fell just two points short in the end. What amount of money as was worth that two points. It would have been priceless in the end.

As Blackpool fans contemplate yet another low finish, the question remains – have Blackpool finally reached their lowest point, or can it only get worse?

The latter is frightening.

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