from 1896 to the present
Formation and early years (1877–1900) Football had developed in Blackpool by 1877, when Victoria F.C. were founded as a church club with a ground in Caunce Street. This team disbanded a few years later but some of its members are understood to have
merged with old boys from St John's School to form a new club called Blackpool St John's. The two factions remained disunited, however, and on 26 July 1887, at a meeting in the Stanley Arms public house, the members resolved to wind up St John's and form a new club to represent the whole town. It was named Blackpool Football Club. The new club managed to win two pieces of silverware in its first season in existence,
1887–88: the
Fylde Cup and the
Lancashire Junior Cup. At the conclusion of the following
1888–89 season, Blackpool became founder members of the
Lancashire League. In their first season in the competition, the club finished fifth out of the 13 member clubs. They finished as runners-up over the following three seasons (to
Bury twice and
Liverpool once), before winning the championship themselves on their fourth attempt. Blackpool's home at that point in time was
Raikes Hall (also known as the Royal Palace Gardens), which was part of a large entertainment complex that included a theatre and a boating lake, amongst other attractions. This meant that the club's average attendances were around the 2,000 mark, making the club's formative years a financial success. For the
1897–98 campaign, the club played their home games at the
Athletic Grounds (at the present-day
Stanley Park). They remained there for the first seven home games of
1898–99, before returning to Raikes Hall for the remaining 10. After finishing third-bottom, the club were not re-elected at the end of the 1898–99 season, and spent the
1899–1900 term back in the Lancashire League. They finished third, and after the Football League's annual meeting, on 25 May 1900, were permitted back into Division Two. It was during this season out of the League that Blackpool amalgamated with local rivals South Shore and moved to
Bloomfield Road.
Early 20th century (1900–1946) During the 10 seasons that followed, Blackpool could finish no higher than 12th place. The club's top goalscorers in the league included
Bob Birket (10 goals in
1900–01),
Geordie Anderson (12 goals in
1901–02) and
Bob Whittingham (13 in
1908–09). At the end of
1910–11, the club found themselves in seventh place, thanks largely to
Joe Clennell's haul of 18 goals. It was a case of "as you were", however, for the four seasons leading up to the
First World War, with finishing positions of 14th, 20th, 16th and 10th. For the last of those seasons,
Joe Lane netted 28 goals. The outbreak of war forced the cancellation of League football for four years, during which time regional competitions were introduced. When normality resumed, in
1919–20, Blackpool had appointed their first full-time manager in the form of
Bill Norman. Norman guided the club to fourth-placed finishes in his first two league seasons in charge (he was installed as manager during the final inter-war season), with Lane again netting close to 30 goals in the former. The club's form nosedived in the
1921–22 season, with a finishing position of 19th, before bouncing back to a fifth-placed finish the following campaign.
Harry Bedford, who had joined the club from
Nottingham Forest, was the country's top league scorer, with 32 goals to his name. Bedford repeated the feat the
following season, this time under the watchful eye of new manager
Frank Buckley, who replaced Bill Norman after his four years of service. Blackpool finished fourth in Buckley's first season in charge. The
1924–25 season was not as successful; a 17th-placed finish tempered only slightly by the club's reaching the fourth round of the
FA Cup for the first time. A single-goal defeat at fellow Lancastrians
Blackburn Rovers ended
the Seasiders' run. Buckley guided Blackpool to top-10 finishes in his final two seasons as manager – with
Billy Tremelling's 30 goals in the latter helping considerably – before he left to take the helm at
Wolverhampton Wanderers. Buckley's replacement was
Sydney Beaumont, who took charge for the
1927–28 season, but he lasted only until the spring after the club finished in 19th position.
Harry Evans was installed as the new Blackpool manager, in an honorary capacity, for the
1928–29 campaign. Due in no small part to
Jimmy Hampson's 40 goals, the club finished eighth. In his
second season, Evans guided Blackpool to the Division Two championship (their only championship to date), finishing ahead of promotion rivals
Chelsea and
Oldham Athletic by three and four points respectively. Hampson had bagged 45 of the club's 98 league goals. Blackpool lasted only three seasons in the First Division. Two third-bottom finishes were followed by a last-placed finish, and the club returned to the Second Division. The club's relegation prompted the Blackpool board to install a recognised manager, and they opted for
Sandy MacFarlane. MacFarlane occupied the
Bloomfield Road hot seat for just two seasons, in which the club finished 11th and fourth. MacFarlane's final season,
1934–35, marked Jimmy Hampson's eighth successive (and final) season as Blackpool's top League goalscorer.
Joe Smith was appointed Blackpool's sixth manager in August 1935, a role in which he remained for the next 23 years. The club finished 10th in Smith's first season, with
Bobby Finan taking over from Hampson as top scorer, with 34 goals. It was Smith's second season in charge, however, that marked the starting point of the success to come. Blackpool finished the
1936–37 season as runners-up in the Second Division to
Leicester City and were promoted back to the First Division. Two seasons of Division One football were played before the
Second World War intervened. Blackpool sat atop the table at the time the abandonment occurred. Regional competitions were implemented again between 1939 and 1945. For the
1945–46 season, after the war's conclusion, Blackpool spent one season in the
Football League North.
Post-Second World War (1946–1967) vs. Blackpool, August 1957 Scottish defender
Hugh Kelly had arrived at Blackpool in 1943, as had fellow defender
Tommy Garrett in 1942.
Forward Stan Mortensen joined the club after the war in 1946. Mortensen went on to become Blackpool's top League goalscorer for the next nine seasons, sharing the honour with
Allan Brown in
1952–53.
Stanley Matthews, who became a regular source of goals for Mortensen, joined Blackpool in 1947, as did centre-forward
Jackie Mudie. Goalkeeper
George Farm signed in 1948, followed by outside-left
Bill Perry in 1949. Kelly, Garrett, Matthews, Mudie, Farm and Perry would play with the club throughout the 1950s, the most successful decade in the club's history. Post-war Blackpool reached the
FA Cup final on three occasions, losing to
Manchester United in
1948 and
Newcastle United three years later, and winning it in
1953, captained by
Harry Johnston. For the first and only time in the club's history, four Blackpool players (Johnston, Matthews, Mortensen and debutant
Ernie Taylor) represented
England in the infamous
6–3 defeat by
Hungary at
Wembley on 25 November 1953. Of the four, only Matthews would ever represent his country again. In
1955–56, and now captained by Kelly, Blackpool attained their highest-ever finish in the Football League: runners-up to Manchester United, despite losing their final four league games. It was a feat that could not be matched or bettered over the following two seasons, with fourth and seventh-placed finishes, and Smith left Blackpool as the club's most successful and longest-serving manager. Smith was succeeded, in May 1958, by
Ron Suart, the first former
Tangerine to return to the club as manager. In his first season, he led the club to eighth in the First Division and the sixth round of the
FA Cup. A 23-year-old
Ray Charnley topped the club's goalscoring chart with 20, in his first season as a professional, and went on to repeat the feat for seven of the eight seasons that followed. The
League Cup came into existence in
1960–61. Blackpool were knocked out in the second round, the round in which they entered. The club's First Division status came under threat, but they managed to avoid relegation by one point, at the expense of
Newcastle United. Local arch-rivals
Preston North End were the other club to make the drop. In October 1961, Matthews, now aged 46, was sold back to
Stoke City. Mid-table finishes in
1961–62 and
1962–63 (and an appearance in the League Cup semi-finals during the former) were offset by another lowly finish of 18th in
1963–64, with
Alan Ball top-scoring with 13 goals. Much of the same ensued over the following two seasons, before relegation finally occurred in
1966–67. Blackpool finished bottom of the table, eight points adrift of fellow demotion victims
Aston Villa. Suart had resigned four months before the end of the season. His replacement was another former Blackpool player,
Stan Mortensen.
Late 20th century (1967–2000) winners Blackpool F.C. Mortensen picked up the pieces for the club's first season back in the Second Division in 30 years, guiding them to a
third-placed finish. They had gone into the final game of the season at
Huddersfield Town knowing that a win would likely secure a return to the First Division. They won 3–1, but once the premature celebrations had ended, they discovered that their nearest rivals,
Queens Park Rangers, had scored a last-minute winner at
Aston Villa. Q.P.R. were promoted by virtue of a better goal-average: 1.86, to Blackpool's 1.65. At the end of the following
1968–69 campaign, the Blackpool board made the decision to sack Mortensen after just over two years in the job. Their decision was met by fans with shock and anger, as Mortensen was as popular a manager as he was a player. Ayre was sacked in the summer of 1994 and was replaced by
Sam Allardyce. Allardyce led Blackpool to a mid-table finish in his
first season and saw the club knocked out of both cup competitions at the first hurdle.
Tony Ellis was the club's top scorer with 17 league goals. The
1995–96 season saw Blackpool finish third and claim a place in the play-offs for the third time in six seasons. In the semi-finals, Blackpool travelled to
Bradford City and won 2–0. Three days later, they hosted the Yorkshiremen at Bloomfield Road and lost 3–0. Blackpool remained in Division Two, and Allardyce was sacked not long afterwards. In 1996, owner Oyston
was convicted of the rape of a 16-year-old girl. Former
Norwich City manager
Gary Megson replaced Allardyce, and attained a seventh-placed finish in his
only season in charge.
Nigel Worthington succeeded Megson in the summer of 1997, and in the
Northern Irishman's two full campaigns in the hot seat, Blackpool finished 12th and 14th. Worthington resigned towards the end of the
1999–2000 season, and his seat was filled by the former
Liverpool and
England midfielder
Steve McMahon.
Rise to the Premier League (2001–2010) , Blackpool's home since 1899, during its reconstruction phase in the early part of the 21st century. This view is looking north McMahon arrived too late to save the club from relegation to the Third Division (fourth tier) after a 22nd-placed finish in the table. In his
first full season in charge, Blackpool were promoted to
Division Two by winning the play-offs. The
following season the club received its then record outgoing transfer fee; £1.75million from
Southampton for
Brett Ormerod, eclipsing the £600,000
QPR paid for
Trevor Sinclair eight years earlier. They also gained the first of two
Football League Trophy wins in 2002 as Blackpool beat
Cambridge United 4–1 at the
Millennium Stadium. Their second win was in 2004, this time beating
Southend United 2–0 again in
Cardiff. In the summer following the Trophy win, McMahon resigned, believing he could not take the club any further with the budget he was being offered.
Colin Hendry became the new manager, but was replaced by
Simon Grayson in November 2005 after an unsuccessful stint which left Blackpool languishing just above the relegation zone of League One (third tier). In the
2006–07 FA Cup Blackpool reached the fourth round for the first time in 17 years, after beating
Aldershot Town 4–2 at
Bloomfield Road, but were knocked out by
Norwich City, 3–2 after a replay at
Carrow Road. They finished in third place, and qualified for the play-offs, and as top scorers in League One with 76 goals. After beating
Oldham Athletic 5–2 on aggregate in the semi-final they met
Yeovil Town in
the final at the new
Wembley Stadium, their first appearance at
England's national stadium in 15 years. Blackpool won 2–0, a club-record 10th consecutive victory, and were promoted to
the Championship in their 100th overall season in the Football League. The promotion marked their return to English football's second tier for the first time in 29 years. Blackpool knocked
Premier League side
Derby County out of the
League Cup at the second-round stage on 28 August 2007. The match ended 1–1 after 90 minutes and 2–2 after extra time. The Seasiders won the resulting penalty shootout 7–6. On 25 September, Blackpool beat
Southend United 2–1 after extra time to reach the fourth round for the first time in 35 years. They were drawn away to Premiership side
Tottenham Hotspur in the last 16, a match they lost 2–0. Tottenham went on to
win the competition. Blackpool finished the
2007–08 season in 19th place, escaping relegation by two points and ensuring their safety in a 1–1 draw with
Watford on the final day of the Championship season. On 23 December 2008, Simon Grayson left the club to join
League One club
Leeds United after just over three years in charge at Bloomfield Road. Under the guidance of Grayson's assistant
Tony Parkes, as caretaker manager, Blackpool finished the
2008–09 campaign in 16th place. Parkes left the club on 18 May 2009 after a meeting with chairman Karl Oyston about finances. On 21 May 2009,
Ian Holloway was appointed as manager, signing a one-year contract with the club with an option of a further year. On 31 July it was announced that club president
Valērijs Belokoņs was setting up a new transfer fund, into which he was adding a "considerable amount" to invest in new players identified by Holloway. Four days later Blackpool broke their
transfer record by signing
Charlie Adam from Scottish champions
Rangers for , topping the £275,000 paid to
Millwall for
Chris Malkin in 1996. Blackpool finished the
2009–10 regular season in sixth place in the Championship, their highest finish in the Football League since
1970–71, and claimed a spot in the play-offs. On 2 May 2010, the 57th anniversary of Blackpool's FA Cup final victory, Blackpool hosted
Bristol City for the final League game of the season. They needed to match or better
Swansea City's result in their match at home to
Doncaster Rovers. Both matches ended in draws, with Swansea's
Lee Trundle having a late goal disallowed for handball, which meant Blackpool secured the remaining play-off place. On 8 May, Blackpool beat
Nottingham Forest 2–1 at Bloomfield Road in the semi-final first leg. Three days later, they beat them 4–3 (6–4 on aggregate) at the
City Ground in the second leg to progress to the final against Cardiff. The result meant Blackpool had beaten Forest in all four of the clubs' meetings in 2009–10. Blackpool defeated
Cardiff City 3–2 on 22 May in the
Championship play-off final at
Wembley Stadium to earn promotion to the
Premier League. It was Blackpool's debut appearance in the Premier League in its 18-year existence and their first appearance in English football's top flight in
39 years. Blackpool had now, uniquely, been promoted through all three tiers of the
Football League via the play-off system. Furthermore, they won all nine play-off games they were involved in during the 10 seasons between 2001 and 2010. The fixture was dubbed "the richest game in football", because the victorious club would receive a £90 million windfall. It was more than double the £36 million that the winners of the
Champions League received. On 24 May, a promotion parade was held along Blackpool's promenade for the club's personnel, who travelled on an open-top
double-decker bus from Gynn Square down the
Golden Mile to the Waterloo Headland. The police estimated that about 100,000 people lined the route. At the Headland, the manager and squad took to a stage to address the gathered mass crowd. "This is the most unbelievable moment of my life," said Ian Holloway. "I've jumped on the best ride of my life and I don't want to go home."
Premier League campaign (2010–11) In their first-ever Premier League match on 14 August 2010, Blackpool defeated
Wigan Athletic 4–0 at the
DW Stadium. The result saw
the Seasiders at the top of the entire English football pyramid until
Chelsea's 6–0 victory over
West Bromwich Albion later in the day. It was the first time they had been in such a position since they won their opening game of the
1957–58 top-flight campaign. The initial fixture list had the game being played at Bloomfield Road, but the Premier League allowed the fixture to be reversed because construction work on Bloomfield Road's East Stand had not been completed in time. On 27 January 2011, the Premier League fined Blackpool for fielding what they believed to be a weakened team against
Aston Villa on 10 November. Ian Holloway, who initially threatened to resign if punishment was dealt, had made 10 changes to the team for the fixture. The club had 14 days to appeal against the decision but chose not to, with Karl Oyston saying that if the punishment was upheld there was a threat of a point deduction and an increase in the fine. On 22 May 2011, exactly 365 days after their promotion, Blackpool were relegated back to the Championship after losing 4–2 at champions Manchester United on the final day of the season, though results elsewhere also impacted the final league standings. Despite predictions that they "would not get 10 points," Blackpool took 39 from their 38 games, including home and away victories over
Liverpool, consecutive away wins at
Stoke City and
Sunderland, and a home victory over
Tottenham Hotspur. Seven of their 10 overall wins were obtained before the new year, and at the end of 2010 they sat in eighth place; however, seven defeats in the opening eight fixtures of 2011 saw them drop down the table. The next match, a draw at home Aston Villa, left them in 15th, their lowest placing of the campaign to date. Another run of defeats – this time five in six – put them in the relegation zone for the first time. They climbed out of the bottom three, at the expense of Wigan Athletic, with successive home draws against
Newcastle United and
Stoke City. Blackpool dropped back into the relegation zone after conceding a late equaliser to draw at Tottenham, switching places with Wolves; they were level on points with Wigan and three ahead of bottom club
West Ham United. A victory, their first in three months, over
Bolton Wanderers, in their penultimate league fixture, was not enough to change the position as
Wolves won at
Sunderland. Blackpool went to
Old Trafford for the final match and were leading 2–1 12 minutes into the second half, but Manchester United, who were crowned champions a week earlier, took control and won 4–2 to condemn 19th-placed Blackpool to relegation along with
Birmingham City and West Ham United.
Fall to the fourth tier (2011–2017) In July 2011, Blackpool smashed their outgoing transfer record when Charlie Adam signed for
Liverpool in a £7-million deal (equivalent to about £M in ). A portion of these funds was used to bring former
Scotland,
Rangers,
Blackburn Rovers and Birmingham captain
Barry Ferguson to Bloomfield Road, where he once again assumed the armband. On 9 May 2012, Blackpool secured their place in the Championship play-off final in their second consecutive season in the division after beating
Birmingham City 3–2 on aggregate in the semi-finals. They met West Ham United in the final at Wembley on 19 May, losing 2–1, conceding a last-gasp goal to
the Hammers Ricardo Vaz Tê, their first play-off final reversal in 21 years. On 3 November 2012, Ian Holloway decided to leave Blackpool after accepting an offer from fellow Championship club
Crystal Palace to be their manager. He was replaced four days later by
Michael Appleton, who left League One side
Portsmouth to take up the position; however, after being in charge for just two months, Appleton left for Lancashire neighbours
Blackburn Rovers, becoming the shortest-serving manager in Blackpool's history. On 18 February, after just over a month without an appointment, the club made former England captain
Paul Ince their third manager of the campaign. It was under Ince that the club made their best-ever start to a league season. Their victory at
AFC Bournemouth on 14 September 2013 gave them 16 points out of a possible 18. The sequence of results was two wins, a draw, and three wins. This was countered by a run of nine defeats in 10 games, which resulted in Ince being sacked on 21 January 2014, 11 months into his tenure. Barry Ferguson was named caretaker manager upon Ince's dismissal. Of Ferguson's 20 league games in charge, Blackpool won just three and finished the
2013–14 season in 20th place. On 11 June 2014, almost five months after Paul Ince's dismissal, the club appointed Belgian
José Riga as manager. He was Blackpool's first overseas manager. Prior to the start of
the 2014–15 season Blackpool suffered a major crisis with some 27 players leaving the club; just two weeks before the season started, the club had only eight outfield players and no goalkeeper. Riga was able to assemble a squad in time for Blackpool's first game against
Nottingham Forest, but could still only name four substitutes instead of the permitted seven. Blackpool lost the match 2–0. On 27 October 2014, after 15 games in charge, Riga was sacked and replaced by
Lee Clark. On 6 April 2015, with six league fixtures remaining, Blackpool were relegated to League One. On 2 May 2015, the final match of the Championship season against Huddersfield Town was abandoned in the 48th minute following an on-pitch protest by hundreds of Blackpool supporters regarding the actions and management style of the directors and owners. The Football League subsequently declared the result the 0–0 scoreline it was at the time of abandonment, which meant Blackpool finished the season with 26 points. Following the resignation of
Lee Clark on 9 May 2015, Blackpool appointed
Neil McDonald as manager on 2 June. In May 2016, a second successive relegation occurred, which put Blackpool in the bottom tier of English professional football for the first time in 15 years. Less than two weeks later, Neil McDonald was sacked as manager. He was replaced by
Gary Bowyer, the club's eighth manager in three-and-a-half years. In late 2016, as the
sexual abuse scandal developed, former Blackpool player
Paul Stewart alleged he had been abused by Frank Roper, a coach associated with Blackpool in the 1980s. In May 2017, under Bowyer, Blackpool won promotion to League One after beating
Exeter City 2–1 at Wembley in the play-off final. The victory meant that Blackpool became the most successful side in English play-off history, winning their fifth final.
End of the Oyston era (2017–2019) On 10 November 2017, Blackpool was put up for sale by the Oyston family. The sale included the club itself and the properties division that owns Bloomfield Road stadium. On 2 February 2018, Owen Oyston relieved Karl Oyston of his role as chairman and appointed his 32-year-old daughter, Natalie Christopher, in his place, just two weeks after appointing her to the club's board. Gary Bowyer resigned in August 2018 after two years in charge, after the first game of the season for undisclosed reasons. He was replaced with his assistant
Terry McPhillips as caretaker manager. McPhillips was made the permanent manager a month later. On 13 February 2019, the football club was put into
receivership by the
High Court, which forced Owen Oyston to pay ex-director Valērijs Belokoņs some of the £25m he was owed. Oyston was removed from the board of the club by the receiver on 25 February 2019. The receiver was tasked with discharging some of Oyston's assets, as well as Blackpool Football Club (Properties) Ltd, which owns the football club. The ruling could have resulted in the club being deducted 12 league points; however, this was eventually ruled against by the
EFL on 11 April 2019.
Under new ownership (2019–present) On 13 June 2019, Simon Sadler was announced as the new owner of the club, officially ending the Oystons' 32-year tenure, purchasing a 96.2% stake. Sadler was born and raised in Blackpool and has worked in asset management in
Hong Kong since 2007. He is the founder and Chief Investment Officer of
Segantii Capital Management. Terry McPhillips resigned as Blackpool manager on 5 July 2019, having informed the club's board that he had no long-term desire to be a manager. He was replaced by
Simon Grayson, who returned for a second spell in charge; however, after a long run of defeats, he was sacked on 12 February 2020. Grayson's last game in charge was a 3–2 home loss to Gillingham. Liverpool U23s manager
Neil Critchley was appointed head coach – the first such role for the club – as his replacement on 2 March 2020. After a curtailed regular season due to the
COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom, Blackpool finished the
2019–20 season in 13th position after standings were amended to reflect a points-per-game ratio. At the end of
the following campaign, Blackpool were promoted back to the second tier of English football, after a six-year absence, after winning the
2021 EFL League One play-off final. It was Blackpool's sixth victory in a play-off final in eight such appearances. The 2021–22 season saw Blackpool secure a sixteenth-place finish in the
Championship. On 2 June 2022, Neil Critchley resigned from his role as head coach and joined Aston Villa as assistant head coach. Critchley told Simon Sadler he was keen to work again with
Steven Gerrard and "pit himself against some of the best coaches in the world". Just over two weeks later, the club appointed its former manager Michael Appleton as Critchley's successor. Appleton was sacked seven months later, on 18 January 2023, after the club managed one win in eleven games. Veteran
Mick McCarthy was appointed to oversee the rest of the season, but an Easter Monday defeat at home to fellow strugglers
Cardiff City ended his spell in charge. Interim manager and former
Seasiders striker
Stephen Dobbie could not keep them in the division. Blackpool were relegated to League One after a home defeat to Millwall on 28 April 2023. Neil Critchley returned for a second spell as manager in the summer, and the following
2023–24 season saw an eighth-placed finish in League One, two places outside the play-off positions. He was sacked in August 2024. On 3 September 2024,
Steve Bruce was appointed as head coach. In January 2025, it was revealed that Sadler was looking to sell the club as he faces accusations of insider trading with Segantii. After achieving a ninth-placed finish in the
2024–25 season, Bruce was sacked as head coach on 4 October 2025 with the club second-bottom of League One. Former Blackpool captain Ian Evatt was appointed as Bruce's replacement on 21 October. ==Colours==