Planet Swans ArchivesThis week’s trip was to the North West to the ‘Top Tourist town in Britain’ apparently anyway, looks pretty bland to me. We left at 7:30 from the usual place and there were two Official coaches for the trip. One was for the weekender and one was just for the game.
We arrived in Blackpool at around 12:30 and had a pre-match meal in Frankie & Bennies (Which was a 5 minute walk from the ground). It was quite quiet in there, which was good, but I felt sorry for the poor girl who served us, as it took us around 20 minutes to pay separately for the meals, the poor girl was so confused.
This was my second visit to Bloomfield road, it is an odd ground, it had two covered stands that looked quite decent, the other stand alongside the pitch – where the away fans are was a temporary stand with no roof. Then to our left was a building site, where work is due to take place on another stand soon, so I heard.
To be fair the Blackpool fans were pretty loud throughout the game, they created a very good atmosphere, was quite intimidating. One of the loudest home fans I’ve heard this season, with 4 stands it would be an even atmosphere.
They were singing songs about their rivals Preston, similar to what some of our fans sing about Cardiff; it’s also not often that I’ve heard (clearly anyway) other clubs sing a lot of songs about other teams, apart from us before.
Unfortunately it was a very cold and windy day in Blackpool and our stand was open to the elements – a contrast to the scorching day back in April. From the start we had a strong wind in our face and then got a soaking when the rain fell, but that’s all part of following the Swans away.
There was a funny moment when a fan dressed up as Father Christmas fell over the barrier onto the hard floor while trying to head the ball, much to the amusement of the home fans who cheered and then chanted ‘He fell over’ The poor chap.
The programme was a good read though to be fair at £2.50, had a good interview with ex Swan Adrian Forbes. Also with all the stats and figures for saddos like me like to take in and absorb!
The walk to and from the car park is different to most other League One clubs, as there were Blackpool fans walking towards us as we made our way back to the coach. I suppose this could be quite intimidating to some away fans (especially if we’d won). But there was no trouble and I heard a lot of comments from the Blackpool fans as they walked past us saying they should have won – they were right.
One fan even suggested to us that we should by a lottery ticket with our luck; he was wrong as I only had one number!
The journey back was a good one – apart from listening to Substitute Jack talking about wrestling for two hours! I also enjoyed listening and taking part in debates and discussions on the game – Which wasn’t very good!!
I had a good day out, it was a shame about the game and the less said about that the better. Let’s hope we have a better performance in our next away game at Crewe on Boxing Day, so for those of you going. Don’t’ forget your Santa hats 🙂
Ticket: £14.50
Coach: £17
Programme: £2.50
Food/Drink: £11
Total: £45
Current Total: £561.50
