karlpejera: Blackpool's Ian Holloway: Football's a very small part of the universe

'If you don't throw a punch, you are never going to knock one of these giants out. Everyone is a giant compared to us'

Ian Holloway is subdued. It is not a description one would readily associate with the Blackpool manager, even in this of all weeks, but his demeanour is not shaped by the mounting threat to what he ? and any fair-minded judge ? would regard as the finest achievement of the Premier League era.

An hour earlier he had initially enthralled supporters at a Q&A session with the force of personality that has transformed Blackpool and makes even routine tales about the gym sound interesting. He soon moved on to more serious matters, however, with an appeal for total, unquestioning support for the games that will determine whether a club with the smallest budget in Premier League history, the odds-on favourites not only for relegation at the start of the season but the lowest points tally, maintains its place alongside sides such as Manchester City, a club whose salary slips for Yaya Tour� alone exceed Blackpool's entire outlay by at least �500,000.

Saturday's 3-1 home defeat to Wigan Athletic sent the Seasiders into the bottom three for the first time this season but what Holloway perceives to be a lack of faith in his team, having spotted some supporters leaving after the visitors' third goal, appears the root cause of his frustration. "I enjoy most parts of the job but I don't enjoy certain parts of it," the 48-year-old says. "I don't enjoy the way people seem to be surprised at where we are just because we were halfway up the table with half of the season gone."

Blackpool sat eighth at the turn of the year. It seems a long time ago now, although one point off 17th with five matches to play ? plus a points total that would have ensured Premier League survival last season ? eclipses most pre-season predictions for a club that was a favourite for relegation from the Championship less than two years ago. Holloway gained promotion on a budget of �4.8m and was allowed �10m by the chairman, Karl Oyston, for the club's first shot at the elite since 1970-71, a sum that fuelled the incredulity at the team's opening to the campaign.

"People can make their own assumptions," he says. "Our goal is still the same, to try and survive, and it was always to try and find three teams worse off than us by the end of the season. Nothing has changed. Anyone who expects that to be any different, I would say, was delusional."

Emotions and tempers inevitably flare when a side slip from success story to imperilled in the course of a season but Holloway's call for perspective is not confined to Bloomfield Road. He does not remain subdued for long. "There has to be more reality in life," he says. "When banks suddenly go bust and we have to bail them out, when they are supposed to be the ones looking after our money, then the whole world has gone crazy. I watched It's a Wonderful Life at Christmas and there is a run on the bank in that, and yet the same is going on now in our lifetime. It's absolutely crazy.

"Football is a very small part of the universe, and Blackpool is tiny in comparison, but we are trying to make ourselves as good as we can be and are being run as sensibly as we can be run. Fans are asking why am I doing this and why aren't I doing that, but I would like to think we are all still trying to do this together. Football is in great danger of people needing something to get them out of their humdrum lives and the worries they've got, and so they expect their team to deliver.

"Look at Bolton, who got beat fair and square at the weekend, and some of their fans left Wembley so early it was unreal. Yes, the M1 was blocked but they were leaving in the first half. What is that all about? FA Cup semi-final, they might not get there ever again, and because their team didn't give them what they wanted some of them left. Some did it here at the weekend. It's nonsense.

"We are all trying our best. I've never met a manager or a player who deliberately goes out to lose or doesn't try his best. They might be on a lot of money, a ridiculously obscene amount of money, but they are still trying. It's a funny old world and I just wish everyone health and happiness, but I am not going to lose mine over a game."

Holloway retains a passionate belief in Blackpool's ability to survive despite a run of only two wins in 15 games, the refusal of several clear penalties in their favour and impending dates with Newcastle, Stoke, Tottenham, Bolton and Manchester United. "We've played better against the higher placed sides this season and luckily that is who we are playing now," he says. "We are used to coming through as the underdog, it suits us. We are coming towards the tape and we've just got to break across it before three other teams. Who is to say we cannot do that?"

Blackpool's manager claims he is at a loss to identify one reason for the team's contrasting results but has studied them all, from Charlie Adam's thwarted move to Liverpool on transfer deadline day to the absence of his captain, David Vaughan and DJ Campbell, two other vital components, due to injury and suspension. "In every game we've got points from this season the other team have had lots of chances," he offers. "Either my keeper was outstanding or they missed, and we were clinical enough to finish. What's happened recently is that the other teams have taken their chances and we haven't. It was always going to go that way at some point but we've got to keep believing."

The empty stadium is filled with the sound of seagulls, there are donkeys being herded on to a lorry in a car park outside, but the dominant cliche about Blackpool these past nine months is how their football team, with an expansive style and restrained budget, have breathed fresh air into a cynical league. It is not a tribute that instils pride in Holloway.

He says: "I don't get that 'breath of fresh air' thing and I don't see us as standard-bearers, I just see us as Blackpool. I see us with a ground that is three-quarters finished and smaller than anyone else's. I see us with a group of players who are paid less than a team that is two-thirds of the way up the Championship. The lads have been absolutely outstanding. I believe the way they have played will mean other clubs will want to buy them, which will make my job a lot harder, and I am enjoying the job of motivating people. Never have I needed that skill more than I need it now and I am still totally and utterly convinced that we've got a chance to stay up and that is all we wanted to give ourselves.

"It would be the best thing that has ever happened to this club and it would be the biggest achievement in the Premier League if a club with our budget manages to stay in it. We got �90m [for promotion] and are going to make sure the fans have a club to support for many years to come. We have guaranteed that and I am very proud to have been a part of that and we are going to do our very best to get another �46m. We are desperate to stay up but you've got to remain calm and believe in the process. Our process shocked a few at the start of the season, we rode our luck a bit in most games we won, but we've got to believe we can attack teams and can score against them. If you don't throw a punch at all, as was the case at Fulham, then you are never going to knock one of these giants out. Everyone is a giant in this league compared to us."

Ian Holloway was speaking at a Barclays event as part of its sponsorship of the Premier League. Every 90 minutes throughout the season Barclays is offering fans the chance to win free tickets to Barclays Premier League matches by going to a Barclays ATM and requesting a receipt or by visiting www.barclaysticketoffice.com

Andy Hunter

guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2011 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds