The young men in tangerine shirts trooped off Bloomfield Road to a standing ovation as another bewildering week in the life of Blackpool FC reached its bizarre conclusion. Days of anger and recrimination had ended in mystery and farce. For the most part, that pitifully small but enthusiastic crowd was applauding perfect strangers. Even the most ardent home fan could not have named more than a handful of Blackpool’s unlikely heroes. A summer of bitterness and confusion had left Blackpool with a grievously depleted first-team squad. At one stage last week, the club employed just eight fully fledged professional footballers. A tour of Spain had been cancelled, just a single pre-season friendly had been played and there was real doubt they would be able to field a side for Saturday’s match with Burnley.
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Blackpool fans were protesting against owner Karl Oyston on Saturday
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There are only 13 players contracted to the club currently
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Just four years ago the Tangerines were preparing for the Premier League
‘Do you think we’re actually paying all these people?’ Her husband snorted cynically: ‘Not if @placeholder has got anything to do with it.’