Morecambe have cancelled their pre-season friendly with Blackpool over security concerns and Accrington could follow in their footsteps. Morecambe decided against playing Blackpool after weighing up the costs of policing to counter the security concerns of a pitch invasion. These concerns come after a pitch invasion at Lancaster City brought the game to an end fifteen minutes early.
Accrington Stanley could well follow Morecambe in cancelling their friendly with Blackpool due to exactly the same concerns. Should Accrington decide to do this then Neil McDonald’s and the squad’s pre-season will have been hugely disrupted, with the number of fixtures being played being significantly lessened.
Tangerine Knights spokesperson Steven Smith dismissed claims of the group planning to cause trouble in pre-season, stating: “While recent events at Lancaster may have cast doubts on whether further disruption to games was planned, there is no doubt in our minds that no such protest was planned for the Morecambe game. We`d also like to confirm there is no planned action at the Accrington friendly.” Though despite the main protest group dismissing any action being planned for pre-season games, there’s nothing to stop other fans marching onto the pitch if they wish which makes the cancellation of the Accrington friendly likely.
The cancellation of the Accrington friendly along with Morecambe would be very harmful for McDonald’s hopes as Blackpool manager. Last year the squad lost out on a proper pre-season which had a negative impact for the rest of the season and there’s the danger that this may occur again.It appears that the pre-season problems are already arising, something which is all too familiar for us fans.
