Opinion: Three points against Cardiff City the only tonic for Blackpool after their week of chaos

I’d rather gloss over last weekend’s derby debacle and forget it even happened, but unfortunately it’s firmly etched at the forefront of my mind. But somehow the fallout has been even more chaotic.

Not only has a leading figure behind the scenes headed for the exits after just four months in his role, the club has also taken the extraordinary step of allowing a well-known supporter to provide a rousing speech to the players.

I’d imagine that’s only the half of it as well…

Desperate times call for desperate measures and all that, but isn’t it Mick McCarthy’s job to motivate the players? Doesn’t this undermine his position?

Perhaps it’s just one final desperate throw of the dice, because we all know Friday’s crucial six-pointer against Cardiff City is last chance saloon territory. Lose that and Blackpool can realistically wave goodbye to the Championship, even with six games still to go.

Major exit

The bombshell news of Chris Badlan’s departure certainly took everyone by surprise. Details are still sketchy – the club only provided a blunt 25-word statement – but what is widely known doesn’t make for great reading.

It’s claimed the former Coventry City recruitment guru leaked the team news on Friday night prior to the next day’s derby. It’s also understood Badlan referred to the Armfield Club – a bar located a stone’s throw from Bloomfield Road and named after club legend Jimmy Armfield – as the “Arndale” while speaking to a supporter at the memorial service held for Tony Johnson.

The Gazette understands Badlan was confronted by the club hierarchy about this at the start of the week and, as you can imagine, it all went to pot from there. His departure was formally announced on Tuesday afternoon.

Upon confirming Badlan’s appointment at the end of November, the club were keen to stress this was a long-term move. The fact he’s departed after just 126 days shows something has clearly gone badly wrong.

It’s certainly a major development because not only was Badlan in charge of recruitment and scouting, he was also leading the club’s search for a new head coach. He was responsible for creating a shortlist of names, something he was well on with according to chief executive Ben Mansford during his recent update to supporters at the recent structured dialogue meeting.

Everything is fine

But back to this week, matters took an unexpected twist on Wednesday when some of the senior players were spoken to by a couple of fans inside the Heineken Lounge.

Crucially, McCarthy wasn’t involved, but the likes of Mansford, director Brett Gerrity and supporter liaison officer Steve Rowland were all in attendance.

From reports, it sounds like it was a mainly positive meeting where the players were encouraged, rather than lambasted. It wasn’t all one-way, either, with the likes of Chris Maxwell, Luke Garbutt, James Husband, Kenny Dougall and Morgan Rogers all speaking up.

I think fans broadly accept that Blackpool’s current plight isn’t down to a lack of effort from the players. A lack of quality – something McCarthy referenced himself after the Preston defeat, comments that didn’t go down particularly well – coupled with some questionable tactical decisions and team selections has been the main theme. And then there’s the injuries, the red cards and so on and so on...

As for the fans, irrespective of what gets said on message boards or on social media, they’ve managed to remain largely positive on the terraces this season. But the nature of last weekend’s defeat at Deepdale has understandably tipped many over the edge.

Because of that, Friday could well go one of two ways. I suspect, because of the significance of the game, the atmosphere will start off electric as always. But McCarthy and the players need to ensure it stays that way by backing it up with a performance on the pitch.

That’s the only tonic here: three points. Manage that and all the off-the-field strife this week will be forgotten about in a hurry. But if it doesn’t go well, the atmosphere could well turn toxic.

The fact it’s Cardiff, Blackpool’s direct relegation rivals and McCarthy’s former club, has barely been mentioned this week given the distractions elsewhere. But the reality of the situation certainly shouldn’t be lost on the players.

Supporters will be demanding changes from last Saturday, both in terms of performance and team selection. There’s a clear demand for more attacking flair to ensure Blackpool actually have a go and don’t go down with a whimper, which has been the fear for some time now, both with McCarthy and Michael Appleton.

If the likes of Charlie Patino, Ian Poveda and Josh Bowler aren’t involved from the start again, fans are likely to vent their disgruntlement.

Saying goodbye

Unfortunately I must end the column on a rather sombre note, because this week we learned the sad news of the death of the club’s disabled liaison officer, Chris Beveridge.

Chris was a popular figure in and around the club and was someone that always had time for a chat, whoever you were. He worked in his role for over 20 years, was a lifelong Seasider and will be sorely missed by many.

On Wednesday, meanwhile, a funeral was held for the club’s former media steward Keith Graham, a figure well known to sports reporters up and down the country.

His distinctive personality and his refusal to let anyone other than himself make the brews in the press room is what immediately springs to mind when I think of Keith. A real character that will also be missed.

Rest in peace to both and thoughts go out to friends, family and all those that knew them.