Please Keith Southern, don’t come back to Blackpool!

Neil McDonald was finally sacked as manager of Blackpool last week, an announcement which unsurprisingly caused very few ripples in the media. Rumours of the next unfortunate soul to take on the toughest job in league football were very quiet, until this morning…

Blackpool club legend Keith Southern is discussing the vacancy with chairman Karl Oyston. From the Oyston’s perspective; this is a smart move, bringing in somebody who knows the club well, who is young and hungry and someone who the fans can relate to.

However, I do not believe this appointment would go down well with Blackpool supporters. The problem does not necessarily lie with who manages the club, it is with those who own it. Having Keith come back to the club will make him look like another Oyston puppet, and his legendary status will become tarnished.

Former midfielder Southern made 347 appearances for Blackpool between 2002 and 2012 – Photo: Ant Jacobs / Offside.

Trevor Sinclair quickly found this out last season; when he was rumoured to be returning to Bloomfield Road in a coaching capacity, before he later became a member of the now defunct ‘Fans Parliament’, he faced an angry backlash from fans on social media and promptly left the parliament, thus maintaining his great rapport with the Pool faithful.

Both Trevor and Keith mean well and care for the club. However, they are simply unaware of just how toxic the situation has now become.

The Blackpool Gazette is now reporting on what looks to be another summer of cost cutting. Not only are staff losing their jobs, but allegedly meals for players are being cut and Pool goalkeeper Colin Doyle is available for a fee of just £1! Yes, that’s one pound sterling.

Ultimately, it doesn’t matter who is in charge of Blackpool because the club is only going in one direction. As Karl eloquently put it in his text message exchanged with a Pool supporter, “Operation Conference” shows no signs of stopping.

Season ticket sales for next season are at an all-time low, and there can be no doubt that the Oyston’s are losing out on valuable revenue. So appointing a former hero like Southern has the potential to drag a lot of people back in, alongside those who still ‘support the team’, regardless of what happens.

It is clear now that those in the ‘not a penny more’ camp outnumber the Pool supporters who are still blinded by their own ignorance, who continue their ritual of supporting Blackpool because they subconsciously can’t stop their habit.

Oyston has been Blackpool chairman since April 1999 – Photo: Simon Stacpoole / Offside.

One thing Blackpool supporters hate more than anything else is being lied to; especially by Oyston controlled puppets who tell us ‘everything is fine’ and urge us to ‘support the team’.

You only have to look at how things ended for McDonald and his predecessor Lee Clark – they brought a fans backlash on themselves due to their arrogant and naïve treatment of us supporters.

I’ve stated in previous blogs the need for Blackpool to have figures like Southern or Brett Ormerod back at the club, but this must only occur under different ownership. Only then will fans unite and return en mass to Bloomfield Road.

For Keith, it would probably be best for him to become part of the coaching staff at Fleetwood Town or AFC Blackpool for now, because returning to Blackpool under the current circumstances will do him no favours.

For your own sake, Keith, come back another time.