As a Blackpool fan, I am used to seasons of highs and lows. I have been lucky enough to see two promotions but also one relegation. I, like so many others, am well aware that it may become two relegations by the end of this season.
This season, as I am sure many Blackpool fans will agree, has been one of the worst in recent memory. We are an embarrassment to the world of football, both on and off the pitch. We have had players go missing (Nile Ranger), players sent back for “taking the mick” out of our form (Jacob Murphy) and our results just keep getting worse – from the 7-2 defeat to Watford to the 4-0 defeat to Brentford.
Yet for some reason every Saturday I find myself at 2pm grabbing my layers and my scarf and setting off for the match. The amount of verbal abuse I have had from our own fans for still going to the games is amazing.
Just because I am not boycotting games does not mean I am pro Oyston – the complete opposite! I go to try and support the team. It is not enjoyable anymore, I know, but I have done it almost every Saturday for at least the last 10 years.
I do not like what Karl Oyston and his family have done, and are doing, to the club. They are killing the club that I love the most. But that is the point – it is the club I love.
I am from a family of Blackpool fans. I got to play at Bloomfield Road as a child. I used to sell half time draw tickets and it’s where I met the love of my life.
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Whether it was learning to scuba dive or going to watch Blackpool, that was time me and my dad spent together. For me this is one of the biggest reasons I cannot stop going to the matches – even to this day those 90 minutes are where we set the world right.
There are many fans out there who have going a lot longer than I have (a fact I am told on many an occasion) who have stopped going to the games. Fans who have had season tickets longer than I have been alive have stopped going to the matches in “protest” against the way the club is being run.
The phrase that is being used by many a fan is “not a penny more” but I do not see the point of boycotting when you’ve already paid your money! I, like many of my friends and family, bought two year season tickets and I am going to carry on going to the matches to support my team.
I am not supporting Oyston by cheering them on. There’s a massive difference.
The team might not be full of the players we had hoped for, but they are still in tangerine. and for me that is the most important thing. We need to keep up the pressure against the top but we can still support the club we love.
My message to fans is this: we are all entitled to our own opinions, but while we are battling with each other, Oyston will continue to win the war.
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