Blackpool Football Club

Founded in 1887, Blackpool gradually established themselves in the Football League and moved to Bloomfield Road in 1901. The club's golden era arrived in the 1940s and 1950s when Stanley Matthews and Stan Mortensen turned the Seasiders into one of England's most entertaining sides. Blackpool reached three FA Cup finals in six years (1948, 1951, 1953), finally winning in 1953 in a match immortalised as the "Matthews Final" — a 4-3 comeback victory over Bolton Wanderers that remains one of the most celebrated games in football history.

Blackpool spent 39 consecutive years in the top flight from 1930 to 1967, finishing as high as runners-up in 1955-56. The club's decline from the First Division in the late 1960s began a long slide through the divisions.

After decades in the lower divisions, Ian Holloway masterminded one of the most remarkable promotions in English football history. Blackpool won the 2010 Championship play-off final at Wembley, beating Cardiff City 3-2 to reach the Premier League. The 2010-11 top-flight season was gloriously entertaining — Charlie Adam, DJ Campbell, and a fearless attacking philosophy won admirers across the country — but Blackpool were relegated after finishing 19th.

What followed was catastrophic. Under the Oyston family's ownership, which had begun in 1987, the club was systematically run down. Millions from the Premier League parachute payments were extracted while the squad, ground, and facilities deteriorated. Supporters launched boycotts, protests, and legal challenges. Attendances at Bloomfield Road dropped below 2,000. Blackpool were relegated to League Two in 2016, reaching their lowest point since the 1960s.