Recollections of 2009/10 - massive squad

[princes town]

Sky news reported that Blackpool used 50 players last season, the most used by any club since darlo in 2009/10. We used 54 players? I know we used a lot with loanees but that seems a bit over the top. Is the figure defo right?

[Spyman]

I'm sure it is in that ball-park, yes.

We must've used 5 goalkeepers at least - Liversedge, Knight, Hoult, Pickford (?), and also that disaster who played one game against Notts County - Ashley something or other?

We had the small squad that Todd started with, which became supplemented by several loanees. Staunton had a revolving door in place, loads of Irish players, some inadequate loanees and a couple of dodgy free transfers. I don't think Davey brought too many in as it was late in the season by that point but I'm sure he still added a few new faces.

[mikkyx]

Feel like trying to see how many you can name? Someone made a quiz for that season here: http://www.sporcle.com/games/dtmy/dfcplayers09_10

[divas]

The crazy thing is, when you pick the best XI it's actually not as bad as the position we ended up in.

--------------Hoult-------------------

Miller-----Foster----White----Arnison

Moore-----Chandler---G.Smith----Devitt

------------Purcell-------?--------------

I'd have rather played with 10 men than pick any of the other forwards tho....

Essentially it was the nucleus of the trophy winning side

[Spyman]

The crazy thing is, when you pick the best XI it's actually not as bad as the position we ended up in.

--------------Hoult-------------------

Miller-----Foster----White----Arnison

Moore-----Chandler---G.Smith----Devitt

------------Purcell-------?--------------

I'd have rather played with 10 men than pick any of the other forwards tho....

Essentially it was the nucleus of the trophy winning side

Exactly - the nucleus of a decent Conference side. Miller, Arnison, Chandler, and Smith all looked a lot better in the Conference - maybe that team was reflective of that season's struggles and there was just a lot of players not quite up to League 2.

There was certainly a large element of bad management - remember Foster being side-lined by Singh/Staunton to avoid having to give him a contract extension?

[divas]

A point I'd considered, but how many Conference teams go on to hold their own in the football league? Not saying we would have pulled up any trees but it's hard to think we'd struggle as badly as we did with decent management rather than trying to build a new team every 5 minutes.

[princes town]

I think even Dan Burn was used late on.

Gross mismanagement by Staunton unless there were factors at play that we don't know about. Money for example tied Staunton's hands.

I'm not sure how you are supposed to generate any team spirit with that level of staff turnover.

[Darlo_H]

I'm sure it is in that ball-park, yes.

We must've used 5 goalkeepers at least - Liversedge, Knight, Hoult, Pickford (?), and also that disaster who played one game against Notts County - Ashley something or other?

Ashlee Jones, hands down the worst 'professional' footballer I've ever seen. Made Craig James and Paddy Deane look like Lahm and fucking Messi.

Other dross I can think of from the top of my head; something Dempsey, Rikki Bains, Matt Plummer and Simon Thomas. Stuff of nightmares.

[AndyPark]

Not forgetting f*cking Noel Whelan.

[AIDO]

Not forgetting f*cking Noel Whelan.

.... Andy man .... please let me forget him ....

[Spyman]

A point I'd considered, but how many Conference teams go on to hold their own in the football league? Not saying we would have pulled up any trees but it's hard to think we'd struggle as badly as we did with decent management rather than trying to build a new team every 5 minutes.

Yes, teams that get promoted from the Conference. We finished outside the playoffs, so can't compare that team to one which was good enough to achieve promotion.

Also take into account that in recent years, it has taken money to win the Conference, which has often given these teams the ability to strengthen further once promoted.

I agree that a string of bad managers and no doubt restrictions put on them made life harder for us, but I'm not convinced the team you outlined would have done anything but struggle regardless.

[Darlo_Pete]

I'm convinced that out of that 54, there was a decent team, it's just that our managers didn't know what was there best team.

[TinShedDarloFan]

Who can forget Dean Windass and that penalty against Bury!!!!, Staunton was the biggest mistake, under Todd we were competitive atleast, losing by the odd goal, Staunton however was just a complete embarresment

[Spyman]

Who can forget Dean Windass and that penalty against Bury!!!!, Staunton was the biggest mistake, under Todd we were competitive atleast, losing by the odd goal, Staunton however was just a complete embarresment

Really? Didn't we have something like 4 points when Todd left?

Staunton actually won us some games. He also brought in Purcell who was the only highlight that season really. If Staunton had some man management abilities and didn't employ a revolving door policy with players he may have been able to do a bit more - I remember us going on a decent run just after Purcell joined but once we started losing again Staunton clearly couldn't rebuild confidence.

Simon Davey then looked to be putting in decent foundations once we were down and out officially, but turned out to be a complete flake (although in hindsight, maybe he just saw what was coming with Radged Strings).