The announcement is set for June 17th. We're looking forward to knowing who we will play when. It will figure into our plans for a trip next season (God and finances willing!)
Aye, and to be ridiculously precise - the fixtures are due out at 10am BST on Wednesday 17th June! Also, tomorrow the Carling Cup (League Cup) first round draw is made. The first round is regionalised and seeded. Blackpool are one of the seeded teams and will play one of the following unseeded teams: Accrington Stanley Bradford City Bury Carlisle United Chesterfield Crewe Alexandra Darlington Grimsby Town Hartlepool United Lincoln City Macclesfield Town Morecambe Notts County Port Vale Rochdale Rotherham United Stockport County Last season we lost 2-0 away at Macclesfield in the First Round My hope is for Morecambe away. They play in League Two, it is a short trip up the coast and it would probably draw a good attendance for them with Blackpool likely to take quite a few fans. We will probably end up getting something like Notts County away!
There is an interview with two members of the League's Fixture Working Party for anyone interested on the Blackpool Official site. Also, some key points released about the 2009-10 season fixtures are: The season begins on 8th August 2009 and ends on 2nd May 2010. There are no games on New Years Eve or New Years Day. The FA Cup 3rd round takes place on Saturday 2nd January 2010. Free International weekends occur on 5th September, 10th October and 14th November. There will be two games over the Easter weekend - Saturday 3rd and Monday 5th April 2010. The August Bank Holiday Weekend sees only one game - Saturday 29th August 2009. The Championship has 10 midweek fixtures. March 2010 will be the busiest month for league matches with six in place. January has four while all other months have five. The Championship Play-Off Final is on a Saturday and takes place a week before the League One and League Two Play-Off Finals. This is a result of the 2010 World Cup finals as the cut-off to be included in a World Cup squad is Wednesday 26th May 2010, and so the Championship Play-Off Final has to be before that date. The club have stressed that all dates are provisional and could be subject to change.
Blackpool have been drawn away to Crewe Alexandra in the First Round of the Carling Cup. The match will be played during the week commencing 10th August. Back in 2006-07, both clubs were in League One. However, two divisions now separate the two following Crewe's relegation to League Two. Football League new boys Burton Albion have been drawn away to Reading in the first round of the Carling Cup. New Burton boss Paul Peschisolido said, Torquay United who were also promoted from the Blue Square Premier League, will visit Championship outfit Crystal Palace. Crisis club Darlington who went into administration in February 2009, partly because of getting crowds of about 3,000 in their 25,000 capacity Darlington Arena stadium, will play Leeds United at home, so should get a decent attendance. There will be a Lancashire Derby, but it is PKE vs Morecambe, while League Two Barnet entertain Watford in a Hertfordshire derby. West Bromwich Albion, who were relegated from the Premier League last season, will travel to Bury. Newcastle United and Middlesbrough, who were also relegated into the Championship, received byes for the first round. Top-flight clubs will not enter the competition until the second round, although teams that have qualified for Europe are introduced a stage later. That means holders Manchester United as well as Liverpool, Chelsea, Arsenal, Everton, Aston Villa and Fulham will enter in the third round. The final is set to be held at Wembley Stadium on 28 February 2010.
The full draw for the first round of the Carling Cup: Accrington Stanley v Walsall Huddersfield Town v Stockport County Rotherham United v Derby County Tranmere Rovers v Grimsby Town Sheff Wednesday v Rochdale Bury v West Bromwich Albion Notts County v Doncaster Rovers Lincoln City v Barnsley Scunthorpe United v Chesterfield Coventry City v Hartlepool United Darlington v Leeds United PKE v Morecambe Crewe Alexandra v Blackpool Carlisle United v Oldham Athletic Nottingham Forest v Bradford City Macclesfield Town v Leicester City Sheffield United v Port Vale Cardiff City v Dagenham & Redbridge Wycombe Wanderers v Peterborough United Southampton v Northampton Town Barnet v Watford Hereford United v Charlton Athletic Bristol Rovers v Aldershot Town Millwall v Bournemouth Gillingham v Plymouth Argyle Colchester United v Leyton Orient Reading v Burton Albion Exeter City v QPR Cheltenham Town v Southend United Brentford v Bristol City Yeovil Town v Norwich City Crystal Palace v Torquay United Milton Keynes Dons v Swindon Town Swansea City v Brighton & Hove Albion Shrewsbury Town v Ipswich Town
Ian Holloway will get a trip to one of his former clubs on the opening day, as Blackpool travel to London to take on QPR on Saturday 8th August. Holloway made over 150 appearances for the Hoops as a player and spent nearly 5 years there as manager between 2001 and 2006. The clubs have met before on opening day, in a game that has gone down in folklore for all the wrong reasons. On opening day six years ago, Blackpool, then managed by Steve McMahon, wore an all-black kit on the hottest day of the year, and were hammered 5-0. Holloway was in charge of QPR then and he remembers it well. Holloway said, Pool's first home game is against Cardiff City, who were pipped to a play-off place by PKE last season, on Saturday 15th August. Followed three days later by the visit of Derby County to Bloomfield Road. The derby clashes against PKE are on Saturday 28th November at Bloomfield Road, with the return scheduled for Deepdale on Saturday 13th February. Both games are very likely to be moved to early kick-offs though. The home clash against Newcastle United is on Tuesday 15th September, which is bad news for Karl Oyston. He had hoped to welcome the Magpies and their large following later in the campaign, when the south stand was open - meaning that the Geordie support could be housed in the East and part of the Kop, and probably ensuring the largest crowd at Bloomfield Road for a long time of about 13,000. As it is, the away fans will be in the East only with a ticket allocation of about 1,700. The home game against Middlesbrough is on Tuesday 16th February. The final game of the season is at home to Bristol City on Sunday 2nd May. The full fixture list is on the official site at http://www.blackpoolfc.co.uk/page/Fixtures/0,,10432,00.html
Might as well put this in here - Blackpool today announced ticket price cuts (for non-season ticket holders). Prices for the new season have been reduced by 13%. So a seat for a member in the Kop costing £20 instead of the £23 charged last season. The club has also ended its policy of charging more for tickets bought on match day than those purchased in advance. Supporters who join Blackpool Supporters Association (for £5) are automatically given membership of the club, which entitles them to the discounted ticket price. Any supporters who prefer not to join BSA can join the club membership scheme for £20. Karl Oyston said, The Seasiders claim they offer one of the cheapest match day ticket prices in the Championship, with only Scunthorpe United charging less.
Blackpool have announced two fixture changes so far - The away match against Scunthorpe United at Glanford Park has been moved from Easter Saturday, 3rd April to Good Friday, 2nd April at 3:00pm. And no surprise whatsoever, following discussion with the police, the PKE home game has been moved from Saturday 28th to Sunday 29th November, with a 1:00pm kick-off.
I was wondering why the Scunthorpe game was scheduled just 2 days before the Doncaster one on Monday, the 5th. At least the team will have a couple of days to recover now.
Believe it or not there is a full fixture list on Easter Saturday and two days later on the Monday! Nowt like giving the teams time to prepare! Blackpool today announced another fixture change. The home game against Newcastle United scheduled for Tuesday 15th September has been moved to Wednesday 16th September, kick-off 7:45pm. So another 24 hours to get some seats in the South stand!