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London. Blackpool manager Ian Holloway vowed to take the fight to the English Premier League’s big guns after leading his unfashionable club into the top flight for the first time in 39 years.

The Seasiders clinched promotion from the League Championship with a 3-2 victory over Cardiff in Saturday’s playoff final at Wembley, but the Champagne corks had hardly stopped popping before Holloway turned his attention to competing against Chelsea and Manchester United and the rest of the elite.

Although Holloway can look forward to spending some of the club’s estimated 90 million pound ($130 million) windfall on new players, he is well aware his team will be expected to struggle.

Yet the always-honest former Plymouth, Leicester and Queens Park Rangers manager has no intention of changing the attacking strategy that helped his team come from behind twice to end Cardiff’s Premiership dream.

“It’s way beyond my wildest dreams that this group of players have achieved something that I think history might not see again,” Holloway said.

“I want to win the Champions League in two years. Well, that’s as wild a dream as us being in the Premier League.

“But it might find a few out when they come to our ground, if the pitch is bobbly and the stand isn’t quite there, yet it might find a few out. Chelsea are going to have to come to Bloomfield Road, and they had better have the right spirit because we will have a right go at them — and hopefully they won’t win 8-0.

“To be blunt, you’ll probably see us take a few hammerings, but I hope it won’t destroy what we have got here, because our fans won’t get expectant, I guarantee that. They are just loving it.”

Blackpool’s promotion was as much a triumph for Holloway as any of his players after a career spent playing and coaching in English football’s lower leagues.

His one-liners and gags during interviews had led many to regard Holloway as a figure of fun rather than a serious football man. He had been keen to emphasize his professionalism and passion for the game ahead of Saturday’s match, though, and took the opportunity to underline the point.

“I’m not a clown, I’m not an idiot and I’m not madcap,” Holloway said. “I’m just a human being who tries to encourage other people and who sometimes needs encouraging himself — and I might need a lot of it next year.”

Cardiff led twice through Michael Chopra and Joe Ledley, but it was pegged back by Charlie Adam’s free kick and Gary Taylor-Fletcher’s close-range header.

Journeyman Brett Ormerod hit Blackpool’s winner in first-half stoppage time as he poked home after DJ Campbell’s miscued effort rolled into his path.

For Cardiff boss Dave Jones, another season in the Championship beckons after his men failed to become the first team from Wales to make it into the English Premier League.

“I wish Ian and Blackpool all the best, while we have to take it on the chin and try to bounce back,” Jones said.

“We’ll live to fight another day,” he said. “We went close, but not close enough.”

Cardiff at least has a brighter future to look forward to having fallen foul of the tax man this year, with a Malaysian consortium taking over the club and injecting new funds.



Agence France-Presse