Bringing success to Blackpool - hopefully…

Intenzivator

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I have started a game trying to get Blackpool back to the premiership. It’s a big task for the team who sits in the league one with below par facilities, poor squad and economy.

The reason for choosing Blackpool is twofold. One is I fell in love with the back when they got promoted to the premiership in the 2010 – 11 season. Their point about perhaps gaining promotion to early, that they were not and would not have the resources to compete was refreshingly honest. They didn’t panic buy a lot of players but stuck to what they had, because they expected to get relegated but would enjoy the spotlight and experience while in the PL. They played adventurous (perhaps naïve) football based around the star Charlie Adam and eventually got relegated again. They have been struggling since. The second reason for playing Blackpool being that the club has a long history (founded in 1887) with their greatest success winning the FA cup in 1953.

The aim:
Short term aims is to stabilize the club financially and to improve the youngster recruitment. The club has very little talent and with below average training and youth facilities investment is needed. Hopefully a quick promotion to the championship to get some regular income, better loan options and start to rebuild. Long term aim is getting to the premiership, expanding Bloomfield Road and winning the FA cup again.

The team:
Starting of the squad have very limited talent.

The star players:
Jimmy Ryan:
Technical and visionary midfielder with playmaking abilities

Jay Spearing:
Hardworking defensive midfielder with good mental attributes

Danny Philskirk:
Deep lying striker with good work rate and professionalism

Max Clayton:
Inside forward – young and talented (unfortunately out for 8 months)

Nathan Delfouneso
Pacey striker to be retrained as inside forward

The philosophy:
Playing cautious, structured football with a squad of determined and hardworking teammates. No room for primadonnas and no one bigger than the team.

Formation:
I have opted for a 4-1-2-3-DM witch is defensively stabile and accommodates my best players in suitable positions. It’s very basic – a defensive and a standard mentality as we are favorites for a relegation battle.
Recruitment:
The team reports suggest we lack leadership and depth in defense. I have signed Miles Addison to help with both. He is slow but defensively OK and capable of being our captain. Furthermore, I have signed Anton Rodgers to play the midfield next to Jimmy Ryan.

I will report my struggles (I am under no illusions) from the first season in league one. We are predicted to be 18th​ so it will be a tough season with survival the aim. Wish us luck.
 
First update

We won promotion in the first season!!

I am totally surprised and very happy with it. it sounds crazy, but we went on a great run. Playing defensive away and standard at home. All on comprehensive at it worked. Some matches we could not produce chances, but defensively we were ok. And at least 8 lucky victories based on long shots that turned in to own goals. We finished 3rd​ and won the playoffs against Wigan in the semis and Portsmouth in the final. The board was ecstatic.

Standouts of the season was Danny Philskirk who scored an amazing 26 in all competitions with 17 in the league. Delfouneso got 10 goals. Jimmy Ryan finished on a 7.13 average rating and Miles Addison (2 star rating) finished with 7.14. I am very pleased. Never had any success like this before. Signed Milan Lalkovic as a right winger in the winter break. He made a good impact and added some much needed vision and flair to the squad.

Tactically it worked from the start with the structured and very basic 4-1-2-3 DM. Exploiting the middle against the 4-4-2 and the flanks against narrow formations. Only really struggled when we met other teams playing 4-1-2-3-DM. I never build at tactic before, that feels this solid and that even works with inferior players. Very pleased with that.

Now onto preseason for the Championship. Unfortunately, we get no transfer budget and only an increase in wage budget of 20.000 to make the budget a whopping 72.000 pounds a week. This is going to be so tough! The other teams have much larger budgets and we are predicted to finish 24th​. I will try to get some loans in, but the backbone from last season basically must step up. I will continue in the same manner tactically and see if it will be enough.
 
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