After returning from the USA, Evertonians now have a more traditional summer trip closer to home to look forward to as the Blues head to Blackpool on Sunday. Frank Lampard’s side take on Michael Appleton’s Championship outfit at Bloomfield Road but the two teams will do well to match their modern day classic from 2011 which the BBC’s Owen Phillips hailed as “a quite awesome match at a rain-soaked Goodison Park, full of incident, controversy and free-flowing, no-holds barred attacking football.”
Just say the name Blackpool and for many it immediately conjures up a cornucopia of colourful images in their minds and probably a huge dollop of nostalgia. From the iconic Tower and its ornate ballroom with Wurlitzer organ to the more base pleasures of ‘Kiss me quick’ hats, sticks of rock and saucy postcards along the Golden Mile plus donkeys and deckchairs on the beach, it’s nostalgia by the ‘bucket-and-spade-ful’ for a bygone age of the great British holiday.
Blackpool playing in the upper echelons of English football also conjures up memories of days gone by with the ‘Stanley Matthews’ FA Cup final in the 1953 coronation year – even though Stan Mortensen scored a hat-trick – and for Everton the Tangerines would provide them with goalkeeper Gordon West and midfielder Alan Ball the following decade. Charismatic West Country gaffer Ian Holloway found the right blend by the seaside in his debut season in charge in 2009/10 though and turned back the clock to steer Blackpool into the top flight for the first time since in 1971 with promotion via the play-offs – thanks to some help from on-loan Blues right-back Seamus Coleman.
