Blackpool FC - back where they belong

by Chris Johnson. Published Tue 25 May 2010 10:56

When I was a lad we had a board game named "Wembley" that my brothers and I used to love. We had to because, apart from Snakes and Ladders and Ludo, it was the only board game we had.

As I recall it was loosely based around the same idea as Monopoly, but in this version the idea was to acquire soccer teams and then play the various rounds of the FA Cup with games decided on the combination of throws of some rather complicated sets of coloured dice.

I remember that the set came with some blank cards, in that the makers had taken account of the fact that teams would be demoted from the Football League and new ones elected. I seem to recall that the card for Accrington Stanley had to be put to one side in 1962 and a new card created for Oxford United.

The names of these cards were part of my boyhood education about the important towns and cities of England and Wales. As a result, I think I've always regarded Accrington as something of a mysterious place.

Not so Blackpool. Our family holidays were spent it Morecambe - which was always regarded as a bit more refined. A slightly impoverished, yet more respectable cousin of "kiss-me-quick" Blackpool.

Blackpool was rather exotic but one thing was never in doubt in those days. Still trading on the reputation of Stanley Matthews, Blackpool's soccer team was always in the First Division and I seem to recall it was a team that often won the make-believe cup final when we played the Wembley board game into the dark winter nights.

By 1967 the "Wembley" game board was consigned to the bottom draw, I was more interested in riding my scooter, and the glory days at Bloomfield Road were a fading memory. The side fell down the pecking order and tumbled into the Third Division.

How great is it then that they have made it back to the Premier League. It can only be good news for the resort that really needs this kind of economic boost. Following the play-off victory over Cardiff at Wembley last Saturday bookings for Blackpool landladies are already flowing-in for the "off season" and that has got to be good news. Hotels, restaurants, bars, clubs and pubs are also set to cash in on the influx of fans.

The promotion is said to be worth £90 million to the club alone and the TV coverage will be a real showcase for the jewel of the Lancashire coast.

It is all the stuff that dreams are made of and let's hope that this dream lasts for more than one season. Blackpool deserves real streak of good luck... what did happen to that "Wembley" board game I wonder?

If I ever do manage to dig it out it would be quite a task to re-write all the club cards to take account of the changes since 1967. But there would be no need to change Blackpool FC's ranking. The club is back where it belongs.