Let's face it - Blackpool fans have hardly covered themselves in glory over recent years. (Or maybe that's just with us.)

From my point of view (living in blackpool) I think luck played a massive part in their promotion. The signing of Charlie Adam was a very good scout by Holloway, and luck was on their side with our DJ situation, however at the same time he also brought in some stinkers too.

They got into the play offs based on the fact that Swansea had a goal disallowed which shouldn't have been. In the Prem, holloway made a good decision to play attacking football and suprise the opposision, but teams had realised this by christmas, and he had no plan B. He continued to play his attacking football with some mediocre players, however the goals they let in with this tactic and the fact that some games Holloway threw down the drain (putting out a youth team against Villa) caused their relegation.

This season he has signed some 'nobody' players some of which have been poor, some okay, and some excellent (Jonjo Shelvey Loan for example) however the teams he is putting out are extremely questionnable and his substitutions are even more questionnable at times (my boyfriend says he got booed for taking off Shelvey who was MOTM at half time in their last game).

So, in a club which doesn't splash the cash he does well, and signs some cracking players, however his tactics can be very poor. Should Blackpool be calling for his head? No, but I can sometimes understand their frustration.

I think he doing fine at Blackpool. But HOW can what he did here be anything but complete and total failure. The squad he had was NOT relegation standard. He took the club to its lowest point in its history, and he was still smiling, he didn't care. So "near impossible", don't talk s.h.i.t.e.

I'm not one of the ones who blames Holloway. Did well to take it to the last day IMO with that side. It's interesting because defence was the strong point of his side but we couldn't score enough goals so maybe he looked at that and thought he needed to be more attacking. Watching them last year I bet their fans were crying out for them to just tighten up at the back and try and close games out rather than go for another goal and if they'd been more defensively savvy I think they would have stayed up. I'm surprised that Holloway, in January, he bought even more attackers that were then rarely used (Beattie, Kornilenko etc.) when I was surprised he didn't use the window to buy more defenders.

But to question his position is remarkable for what he's done for that club. They're not even in that bad a position actually - only 2 points off the play-offs like us and they've had to deal with loosing their best player and driving force.

^
Our midfield that year was awful and we had no target man. He brought in Oakley and Howard, who were in theory good signings and just what we needed. Unfortunately their morale was through the floor because of what had been happening at Derby.

Granted he could have done better, but that side was really screwed before he arrived.

I'm with Svenfox and the others who lay some considerable part of the blame for our relegation at Holloway's door. We were certainly not amongst the three worst squads in the division that year, and I followed our decline with mounting disbelief.

This was the season we beat Villa at Villa Park, walloped the eventual champions WBA 4-1 at the Hawthorns, and put three past Chelsea at Stamford Bridge before losing at the last gasp.

It wasn't all Holloway's fault, of course. And clearly he has some managerial talents: getting a tiny and broke outfit like Blackpool into the Premiership at all was a small miracle. But he was out of his depth with us, and we suffered a humiliation as a result.

Like him and/or respect him.... or not, some of his comments are a breath of fresh air in the 'politically correct' society we find ourselves in today.

A good manager for a smaller club with lower aspirations. The Leicester job (with the pressure that came with it) was always too much for him. Wrong bloke at the wrong time.

As to blaming him for being 8th - incredible!
Those Blackpool fans should look at a board that has let most of their good players (Adams, Gorks, Hoolahan) and spent the square root of b' all, despite all the riches the Premiership brought. They are the ones who lack ambition.

I feel sorry for them.

prawnsandwich: I notice you didn't include 'dj' in your list of good players?!!

Midtable when he took over, relegated at the end of the season. We'd stayed up for 2 seasons running with squads of a similar standard.

It wasn't all his fault but to absolve him from alll blame is ridiculous. He was the manager long enough to have an effect. Much like last season - he had long enough to sort out the defence (their only weakness in terms of a reegation scrap) but it didn't get a jot better all season.

He's done well at Blackpool though, they are still playing good football, and they still look to have a decent chance of the play-offs this season.

I blame holloway for us going down. I've moved most of that season out of my head now. All I will say is that if we had kept megson, we would have stayed up. We had more than enough chances to put points on the board with Holloway but poor tatics and the inability to accept when the team was playing badly did for us. I hated the way everything was a joke to him. But he went away after city and improved as a manager

I too used to think Holloway's comments "a breath of fresh air". It was when he was still cracking jokes and playing the fool as we circled the plughole at gathering speed that I changed my mind.

True, but it's not our problem anymore and, sorry, I can't help liking the guy. Wouldn't want him back here at any price but I think he's honest, if somewhat misguided.

Quite deliberate Montreal.

I list him amongst the most calculating mercenaries in the game. The Blackpool board couldn't have kept him even if they had wanted to.