D-Day for Blackpool

Transfer deadline day is upon us, and has already been described as a ‘sink or swim’ 24 hours (well, more like 15 now) for The Seasiders.

Before the transfer window, the club talked about dipping into the transfer market and signing players – players we desperately need. Taken from The Gazette back in October, Grayson was said to be having ‘a major rethink of his January transfer policy – he’ll be making permanent signings, not temporary’ and that ‘The Seasiders boss has conceded that it’s been more difficult than he thought to complete loan moves in the Championship.’

Blackpool did spend money earlier in the window, with the capture of out-of-favour Hull City striker Stephen McPhee, and have since loaned Paul Gerrard from Sheffield United, The Blades’ third choice goalkeeper.

On November 9th, The Gazette stated: ‘Blackpool boss Simon Grayson is to have a summit meeting with Chairman Karl Oyston and President Valery Belokon to discuss what money is on the table to strengthen the squad when the transfer window re-opens in January.’ What happened at this meeting? Or was the meeting only brought about because ‘Pool were dropping in the league and money needed to be spent to ensure survival – like it was this time two years ago when the likes of Marcus Bean and Marc Joseph were recruited? ‘Pool fans cannot fathom as to what is so different now as to in November; we’re still in the bottom half, still in major danger of going down and without money it looks far more likely we’ll drop into the third flight of English football?again.

Preston, Colchester, Leicester and QPR have all spent money in the January transfer window at the foot of The Championship – something our club can’t compete with apparently, with a Latvian billionaire as President!

The Seasiders are currently interested in Norwich City midfielder Rossi Jarvis, a youngster from fellow strugglers Norwich City. That for me says it all: we want other strugglers` cast offs.

Before the transfer window, I personally would have liked to have seen two strikers, a midfielder, defender and a goalkeeper. Other people’s opinions will obviously vary and some said we needed less than that, maybe only three players. But the truth is that we only have two strikers on the books that even look like scoring, a midfield that have plenty of industry but no real quality, bar Hoolahan, and a defence that despite being dubbed brilliant and fantastic, has shipped 37 goals this season, along with a mistake-prone goalkeeper. Ok, so that summary is a bit dramatic, but without new faces – and Radio Lancashire doesn’t expect anymore in by tonight – I’m afraid we could well be in for a long 17 remaining games.