Sheffield Wednesday News 24/7Writer: Nick 
Date:Sunday May 23 2010
Time: 3:28PM
UK time is: 08:22:18
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Owls Given Hope By Blackpool
Ian Holloway's Blackpool did the unthinkable yesterday in gaining promotion to the Premier League - and it gives hope to scores of clubs looking to reach the top flight.
The Tangerine Army saw off Cardiff City 3-2 at Wembley in the Championship Play-Off final yesterday to earn the right to host clubs such as Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool next season at Bloomfield Road.
Blackpool's promotion is arguably the most unexpected since the Premier League originated - even boss Ian Holloway and their supporters wouldn't have given promotion a second thought at the start of the campaign.
But they completed the fairy tale in scintillating fashion yesterday.
And in turn their promotion gave clubs throughout the Football League hope that they too could one day be playing amongst the elite.
It can certainly give Wednesdayites plenty of hope following the relegation to League One football next season.
Blackpool's wage budget was on a par, if slightly higher, than Wednesday's last season and it just goes to show that team spirit and the right manager at the helm can achieve the unthinkable.
In contrast to Blackpool's relatively low wage budget and transfer activity, big spenders such as Nottingham Forest, Cardiff City, and the so-called 'big' clubs like the Owls, Leeds United, Southampton etc. will remain in the Football League next season.
Blackpool's stay in the top flight may well only be brief (I'm not writing them off, but the odds will most certainly be against them), but their promotion will set them up for many years to come, and with the right management from the top they could well find themselves up there a little more often thanks to their latest success.
We may have suffered a season to forget last season, but Blackpool's success certainly raises that little bit of hope amongst football fans up and down the country - it's what the beautiful game's all about.
Well done, Blackpool.
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Your Comments
blackpool have good players tho! and players with fight a team like that takes time to make and some money to spend!
Wednesdayforlife
Its the lack of money thats holding us back nothing else.
A loan or a mortgage goes down each year as you pay it off month by month until after so many years its gone. Why after 15 years is our loan still is as big as it as always been ?
Handsworth Owl
where is bladesforlife or what ever his name. hes anoying on vital cardiff city i would rather you than the blades.
aderynglas
no im not annoying on cardiff vital just adding to many comments already posted on there by others inc owls fans..and yes i agree with the wendy boys 'you shouldn't be in the english leagues you sheep sh@gg3rs!!
bladesforlife1889
How does this give us hope? Completely different types of club. Blackpool are well run, well organised and play for the shirt aswell as having a quality manager. We don't have any of those.
Danigol_10_SWFC
no surprise that BFL is a racist idiot
robc
BFL is right they should stick to their own welsh league.
owlswfc
Why should they. They have a decent ground and support that is too big for the welsh league. I'd be happy to have an irish team in there as well.
I agree with danigol why does this give us hope, i don't get it.
Radon Barrier
i don't understand why Cardiff can compete in the English leagues. why not let Celtic and Rangers in then and for that matter Real Madrid, Barcelona and whoever else? ultimately it is called the english league and should be represented by english clubs just like any other league around the world
Hirsty's Shinpads
BECAUSE IT IS NOT A ENGLISH LEAGUE!!! and barcelona is too far away.
aderynglas
fine then loosers, if it is a english league then there should not be any foren players in your team. oooooh!!! stumped.
aderynglas
it is an english league, so swansea and cardiff should not be allowed in it!!!! and what country a player comes form does not matter which league he plays in!!!! well done blackpool!!!
supersibon
good answer sibon, summed it up nicely.
Hirsty's Shinpads
Swansea and Cardiff (and Newport) all compete(d) in the the English leagues because at their inception there was no Welsh League and Great Britain was precisely that. Scottish clubs never wanted to compete in the English league until relatively recently (the early to mid 70's the idea was first mooted) and would now like to join the clamour for riches in the Premier League (a double eged blessing if ever there was one). When the Welsh League was launched both Cardiff and Swansea refused to join it as their tradition was established in the leagues within which they had competed for over a century. Since Welsh clubs have competed in Englands leagues for over a century Aderyn is quite at liberty to claim that the leagues are not wholly English. Shame he can't spell foreign or losers. So there, BFL is still not right..........again and as usual.
robc
rob you are factually correct and the rules are that association clubs from england and wales can compete but i the point that i am making is why can welsh clubs compete but not clubs from any other country? for me it should be either one thing or the other
Hirsty's Shinpads
why does blackpool doing well give us hope? They have good players, the club is well run and they have a cracking manager. We on the other hand have none of these things. Clutching at straws here I think.
flinoycore
I thought I explained why. When the Welsh clubs joined the league, Britain was a unified union (no devolution), no league existed in Wales and the football league welcomed the representation from these industrial cities. Scotland already had a league and the financial restraints of travel costs outweighed the potential rewards of moving to the English league. Ireland was caught up in an undercurrent of nationalism and it would not do to be seen to want to play in the English league. Move on up to the present day and nationalism still exists but the financial rewards of the Premiership outweigh previous concerns. Thats why the Glasgow clubs and an Irish club based in Dublin would like to join. Some in football's self interested and self serving political world would support these moves but others (the majority) oppose. They might also oppose the membership of the Welsh clubs but since these clubs have been members of the league for such a long time any move to expel them based on nationalist grounds would be on extremely shakey legal ground. Hope that helps Hirsty
robc
it does help with the football league but I forgot to state that i was looking at the rules of the premier league, which was only founded relatively recently. I suppose the answer is to maintain continuity from the FL?
Hirsty's Shinpads
I think you've hit the nail on the head Hirsty. Continuity. Besides the Premier League (which with the benefit of hindsight should perhaps have been strangled at birth) is only the 1st division with a tv contract and loads of cash. If it isn't the 1st division then why does it have relegation and promotion to and from the 2nd division (sorry the championship)?
robc
completely agree, the premier league has destroyed the competition of football in that only a few very rich clubs have any chance of winning it. before the premier league started we finished 3rd and with a few games to go we had a chance (a small one) of winning it, can anybody honestly see us being that close again?
Hirsty's Shinpads
No, Arsenal, ManU, Chelsea have dominted because the Premiership rewards wealth (even if it's all based on credit) and other clubs, even the likes of Liverpool, cannot compete. Instead it has become three seperate leagues, one to win the title, one to qualify for Europe (finishing 4th is a good thing FFS), and one to avoid relegation.In order to compete clubs are forking out minor fortunes to journeyman (more often than not overseas) players and when these fail relegation happens followed in a number of cases by administration. This is such a problem that the Premiership has increased and extended the parachute payments which warps the financial competition in the Championship. It's stupidly ridiculous, the FA, Uefa and Fifa have become so afraid of the powerful clubs that when they slap a transfer ban on the likes of Chelsea, as a punishment for breaking the rules, its almost immediately revoked. How many owners did Pompey have last season? How many of them had any money to invest? About the same as Notts County, whoever actually owned them? It's exactly the same as the Palace scenario. The league is not only encouraging financial irresponsibility it's actually rewarding it (ManU a prime case). There that's my rant over.
robc
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