The "Away Day Experience" - Blackpool

I knew I should have just given up on it when, earlier in the week, I tried to get a ticket online and it didn't let me have one. I tried again on Wednesday or Thursday and (unfortunately) I got one. I was thinking well, it's only £19 and a 72 mile trip each way is cheap in my Yaris Hybrid. What could be better than a day at the seaside on a warm day and a match we traditionally get something out of? How wrong I was!

I was a bit later setting off than I intended but knew that there was a big car park on Bloomfield Road so it would be easy getting in there with a short walk to the ground. But then the trouble started. All three machines that I looked at had a gaggle of people standing around looking confused, frantically trying to get the phone paying app to work. I was going to pay my £3.50 cash but that wasn't an option. It took several attempts to get into the app and pay and by that time it was 4.10pm and I had long since lost interest in a disappointing match.

I had only just got to the ground in time for kick off and found that there were separate entrances at either end of that East Stand. A steward told me which end I needed to be at and it was the one furthest away from where I was. So, of course, there were large numbers of Barnsley fans criss-crossing trying to find their way in. I was near the half way line, on Row S and found myself smack bang in the middle of the singing crew. Most of them were standing up, many of them in the aisles as well. I had to stand up as well when the ball went to the far end because I could only see half a pitch from my seat. NOT good enough on the stewarding front - why do they allow this when they are often so keen to move you on if you stand for a few seconds lower down the stand, as an individual? I suppose they don't want to get involved with a big gang of away fans who selfishly stand up not giving a monkeys about anyone around who wants to sit.

But hey ho, that's the away day experience isn't it? Having to sit near people you would normally be nowhere near (at Oakwell). Now I know that some reading this might be of that "crew" who prefer to stand, and whose only enjoyment at an away match comes from singing/chanting AT the away fans, goading them all the time, and barely watching the match. The inevitable happens of course with their low lifes clashing with our low lifes at some point and bottles and smoke bombs are tossed around. That was particularly unpleasant and I really should have moved up to the other end of the stand but with such a big following you never know if there will be seats free there, so I stayed to the end. I had though moved down a couple of rows so that I could at least see all the pitch.

Was it worth seeing all of the pitch though? On yesterday's showing obviously not. Lots of people have already commented on our players and performance so I won't add to that. This is purely my view on the day itself. Bottom line is that it was awful. I am a very infrequent away day traveller anyway but I have been foolish enough to go to Bolton and Blackpool this season and have come away wishing I hadn't bothered. So, that will be it for me this season. It's not worth putting myself into a hostile situation when all I want is a decent game of football to watch. That's all I go for - not to drink, not to stand and sing, certainly not to fight. I suppose that away days have always had that element of madness, and danger, but I'd rather have no part of it. The wonderful experiences over the years (Wembley in 2016 for example) are in the minority. Days like yesterday seem to be the normal these days, and that's a shame.

I decided to try and forget a dismal Reds performance by taking a walk on the sea front afterwards. It was probably about an hour or so and that was more than enough. The town was heaving of course, being such a warm day, but I just wanted to remind myself of Saturdays in Blackpool spent as a child, although we mostly went to the East Coast. For me it has gone downhill, like most seaside resorts. I'm sure plenty will disagree with me about that but it's not the kind of place that I would like to go for a holiday. We all have our own likes and dislikes but I just found Blackpool depressing, and not only because we had lost a poor game of football. I won't be back there again. Probably not ever.

 

Yes, it’s a shame that Blackpool, (especially the back streets) have gone in such a downward spiral. Like you I went for a stroll on the prom and it brought the happy memories of childhood holidays flooding back. I then went off the front around the back of the Tower area where I was almost immediately confronted by 2 youths on pushbikes one called me a Yorkshire lovely person and the other said I had **** on my shirt. Although I was on my own, this didn’t stop me from walking towards them, thankfully they rode off or goodness knows what trouble I might’ve have got myself in. After the match was an utter snd complete ****- up, Coaches were now parked on Central Drive instead of the coach park where they dropped us off, this caused a lot of confusion and made the situation worse as the police then allowed home fans to use the same route after initially holding them back. All of a sudden it looked like all the scroats in Blackpool had decided to approach the coaches, cue mayhem. Piss poor from the Police.

 

enjoyed reading that, we called for day a few weeks ago on route from Lancaster to Chester,mainly because my son could not remember it as he was so young last time we went, OMG,as you say what a depressing place if your sober,the low light of our day was when a down and out produced a pigs trotter from his bag and then threw it down on the high street,then followed a scene Mr Hitchcock would have been proud of as around 20 seagulls ,flapped scrapped screeched attacked each other trying to get their share of it, the lad who had thrown it down was clapping with glee watching it .in fact lots had stopped to watch ,it was one of the most disturbing scenes ive scene since walking dead was on telly, we looked at each other and said lets get off, we lasted less than 2 hours, we did not get far either due to it being a freak red hot day and us getting stuck on the thousands of lumps of discarded chuddy that peppered the pavement, on a plus note I did get a pair of espadrilles from a shoe shop that everything was 5 pounds or less

 

One thing Barnsley fans got right. Blackpool really is a **** hole. It's not changed in 60 years since I went on the club trip.. Building's look dilapidated and in need of a coat of paint. It's just not in the same class as Scarborough and Whitby.

 

It never was.

 

Funny you should say that about the pigs trotter incident. I noticed a lot of people like that around and about. Couldn’t get the tune “Duelling Banjoes” out of my head at one point……

 

Absolutely detest Blackpool. Always have. Brown sea, grubby, tawdry, littered with amusement arcades. Horrible. My ex came from Lytham which is ok but Blackpool...shudder. And it's always cold!!!!
My childhood holidays were in Scarborough which I loved. It's all subjective but for me, I'd pay good money NOT to set foot in Blackpool.

 

I love Scarborough and all that coast but Blackpool I don't agree is ****. Pubs, restaurants, theatres, arcades, piers, Pleasure Beach, tower, Sea Life, Tussauds, zoo and many other attractions. The sea front since tens of millions was spent on it looks far better and modern. Hundreds of places all over the country would take the things you can do at Blackpool over the usual city/town centres of boarded up buildings, pound shops and bookies.

I enjoyed my day there yesterday. Parked on a back street across from central pier with easy access to get away not far from the ground. Fish n chips in Papas washed down by a pint and even though it was early quite a lot of our fans were in there. Nice sit on central pier enjoying the weather and something going off in front of it where a man was running through a ring of fire. The only thing that ruined the day was the players not being able to motivate themselves with 3,000 people there to back them. The stand we were put in needs knocking down and made to look like the other three. The acoustics of the ground is brilliant. You wouldn't have known from the home noise they only had 9,000 in the ground. They stick away fans down the side like I wish we did and their scoreboard is very good.

 

They have a better scoreboard than us? That really surprises me to be fair…..

 

https://www.blackpoolgazette.co.uk/...ay-off-tie-against-oxford-in-pictures-3246766

Big enough to play a classy tribute on.

 

A bit harsh that!
I remember two holidays there in the late 50s as a small child . We travelled all the way from Hornchurch in Essex on the overnight train when most of our neighbours used to go to Sarf-end ! My dad came from County Durham and always liked Blackpool which was the Premier resort in the UK.
When I was 7 my dad got a transfer to Blackpool before it started its steady decline when package tours got going.. Three Piers each with a theatre at the end, Winter Gardens with two big theatres inside, the Grand Theatre, Tower Ballroom, circus and zoo (although looking back the animals must have been kept in appalling conditions underground) Pleasure beach and Golden mile. Not to mention the illuminations. All the big names were at Blackpool I saw acts like Tommy Cooper and Ken Dodd in the same week each playing at the Winter Gardens all season.

Albeit I saw it through the eyes of a child but it was a magical place to grow up in.

It all came crashing down for me when I was 13 when he got a new job meaning we would move to Barnsley (which I had never heard of. Don't get me wrong but I first set eyes on the place when we made a trip across the Pennines to see where we were moving to and having set off from Blackpool in bright late Autumnal sunshine and arriving in Barnsley on a dismal , damp miserable gloomy Saturday afternoon in the mid 60s. I was already fed up as I was just starting my 2nd year at school in Blackpool having moved up from Junior with a lot of my friends and was giong to be uprooted for the 2nd time (having moved from Essex to Blackpool after 1 year in Primary.) My exact words were... "Do we really have to move here?" My, father, it has to be said,was not the most patient man and had a quick temper. He went ballistic and even my mother who was the peacemaker couldn't retrieve the situation. No words were spoken on journey home.
I hated Holgate which seemed stuck in a bygone era compared to my previous school which was brand new and very well resourced e.g. I lined up outside the biology lab on my first science period in Barnsley, with the rest of teh class aand was expecting to be handed a microscope by the lab technician as we went into the lesson as I was used to. Alas,no! We had to stand in line and each of us was given several seconds to peer into the lens of the one microscope on the teacher's desk before returning to our seats. There were some decent teachers but a few should have IMO been 'put out to pasture' years before. The saving grace was the Barnsley people (and their unique brand of humour) and the fact I discovered I liked watching football (in spite of being totally cr*p at sports) and the atmosphere at Oakwell behind the goal at the Ponty. Ultimately, it worked out as I met and married a Barnsley lass and miraculously she has stayed with me through thick and thin for over 40 years.

 

Blackpool was indeed a Mecca of entertainment and a ‘magical place’ to have a holiday When I was growing up. As I said in my previous post the memories I hold of holidays in the summer and the illuminations with dear old mam and dad will stay with me forever. It really is sad to see much of it decaying as it is and seeing those sorry looking back-street slums that were once proud B&Bs whose proprietors were salt of the earth type people who parents would trust to babysit if they fancied a night out without the kids. On the plus side the promenade looks nice and I like that they use the retro trams along with the modern ones.

 

Been to Broomfield Road plenty of times when we have took much lower numbers, never seen any bother before home and away fans usually mixed well. Yesterday seemed diffrent before going into the ground scuffles between fans outside the statue they have broke up by police, inside the ground fans trying to get to one another Missiles smoke canisters been thrown and having to ask fans over tannoy to stop throwing things(from what I saw looked mostly home fans) I think because such a big away following came more home idiots got wind and turned up. Sad thing for me was the middle of the 2nd half reds fans scrapping each other.
The standing in gangways further back is a shame I think if I was you I would have found empty seats further down(not that you should have to)
Blackpool as a place is a dump good away day though and a great piss up, but it is a hole town full of scruffs.



Video showing smoke cannisters getting thrown from the home ends into the away end. If that was oakwell we would probably be in serious bother didn't we get fined for chants towards mclean so you'd expect the f.a to take action

 

That temporary stand (how many more years does it have to be up before we just call it a stand) was diabolical. But I was sat there thinking we may as well knock the West stand down, knock up a temp stand and stick the away fans in there and home fans in the North.

 

Spent many happy holidays in Blackpool as a kid in the 70s and early 80s. But it's different now last time I was there for a day trip a few years back some pillocks on a stag do fall out of the tower lounge minus the clothing on their bottom halves and proceeded to harass my wife and then teenage daughter until me and my then teenage son arrived on the scene and asked them very politely to go away and assisted the more reticent ones to do so. Haven't been back with the family since. I've been back for work reasons and despite the money spent on the front it's got worse.

 

Don't get me wrong, I like Blackpool and have many, many happy memories of being there over the years; indeed I'm planning a special 40 year return visit there in 2023 with Mrs G&tB. However, it's never been as classy as Scarborough or Whitby.

 

The main problem is everyone was waiting to sell their back street hovels for the mega casino world that Blair planned. Fortunately that got canned, unfortunately, only a minute amount of investment has taken place since and the hovels became scroat homes.

 

Have to agree with every word. I too have been to Bolton and Blackpool and wished I hadn’t a d I was thinking that’s probably me for the season. Awful experience. As for Blackpool, well it was as bad as the football and I have no desire to go back…ever.

 

Not just me then!