A short congratulations to Blackpool.
There are a few things that link Bolton and Blackpool together, and it isn’t just the M61/M6/M55.
First of all there is the the (so called) Matthews Cup Final where they robbed the FA Cup off us in 1953. Don’t try and candy it up, we were the better team on the day and my grandad stuck by that until the day he died.
Then there is their former captain Jimmy Armfield, the man who lay the roots for getting Bolton back into the old First Division, winning promotion from the Third Division and giving Ian Greaves the springboard to carry on the work when he left for Leeds. Some say he is the most fully deserving ex footballer to be knighted, although he’s probably a mile behind Nat.
Say what you want about local rivalry and the name calling between fans of clubs. Last season, with Bolton and Blackburn joined by Burnley, it was like the old times revisited, no matter that, with the money situation, these days we can’t compete as we all used to.
So we welcome Blackpool with open arms to the Premier League, virtually guarantee that we won’t be coming for their manager in January and hoping that they stay longer than Burnley. As long as we can have six points. Ta.