Grab The Premiership Opportunity!

Steve Coppell today said that there’s no good time to get promoted to the Premiership. You’ve just got to grab the opportunity when it comes.

And he’s completely right. After the magnificent 4-3 win at Nottingham Forest last night, The Seasiders won’t get a better chance to reach the ‘promised land’.

DJ Campbell’s superb second half hat-trick was enough to beat Forest and ‘Pool await either Leicester or Cardiff in the final, with the second playoff semi final taking place tonight.

But the impact a possible promotion could have on Blackpool is absolutely huge, obviously. Total monies worth over £90m is the prize, which allows the club to build a stable infrastructure which has been badly needed for decades.

Chairman Karl Oyston told Sky Sports News that the club were to increase capacity of the ground to 16,000 if the 22nd May saw promotion for ‘Pool. That in itself is a major step forward for a club which battled on with gates of around 3000 not so long ago. It would also see the average attendance being increased by more than five (yes, five!) fold in under 20 years.

Not only that, the money could provide the platform to a new training ground, with the Seasiders’ current home at Squires Gate not fit for league football, let alone Premiership football.

But it is the changes on the pitch which will delight the Blackpool fans. Supporters outside Bloomfield Road today laughed at the small club tag the team has smashed and the genuine sense of excitement is fantastic to be apart of. Ian Holloway’s men are 90 minutes away from the chance to pit their wits against the Chelsea’s and Arsenal’s – something which hasn’t been possible for 39 years.

Whether they take that chance remains to be seen, but with the ascendancy ‘Pool have at the moment – much like the spirit of 2007 – who would bet against them?

Certainly not the rest of the nation. We’re everyone’s second team at the minute!