Welcome to a new season. This article is written the day after our huge win at QPR, a result that saw us leap from the lower reaches of the table to the heady heights of 7th. It looks likely to be that kind of League this season.
None of us can really know what this team is going to be as yet, but it is encouraging to see the club looking for young talent with potential in both transfer and loan market. Injuries so far have been horrendous, but can only improve and this is one of those times where International breaks seem more of a blessing than a curse. There is much to look forward to.
Off the field, BST have had a busy time over the course of the summer. We are now the proud sponsors of the Blackpool Girls & Ladies U-16 team. This feels very timely for us ; women’s football has never had a higher profile and it is wonderful for us to be associated with one of the emerging clubs in grass roots football in Lancashire, as well as building a relationship with young fans. We hope it is the start of a long partnership.
We are also very proud to be able to sponsor mascot packages for our fans this season. Thanks to the generosity of our members, we are able to pay for twelve children to take up what is a thrilling opportunity to enjoy the match from a uniquely close perspective. Our first lucky mascot (Aaron Liptrot) had a day to remember when we played Swansea City, and two other young fans will follow him in rapid succession at our games with Bristol City and Middlesbrough.
For future tranches of mascots, we will be donating three packages to local good causes, to ensure that we reach out to families who might not otherwise be able to afford this kind of treat. The amount of goodwill this idea is generating is already very encouraging, and builds upon us offering a Blackpool shirt to every Year 2 child in Blackpool who wanted one last season.
Less showy, perhaps, is our attempt to work with the club to look after that section of our away support who need to be able to sit down at games without their view being impeded. Standing up at away games is very much in fashion, but not everyone is able to do it for ninety minutes. So we are liaising with the club’s Supporters Liaison Officer and the Ticket Office to identify “seating only” sections at every away match that we can.
This is a national issue, and we are pretty confident that the level of help we are getting from Steve, Sarah and her Ticket Office team is as good as that being seen anywhere in the country. We will keep at this, to try to make sure that ALL fans can enjoy the away day experience in the way that suits them.
Last, but not least, we are getting close to the start of our annual election cycle. We take great pride in our status as Blackpool’s biggest democratic fan group, and are once again on the look out for new talent among our Membership to take us through what looks like being a genuinely momentous period for fans the length and breadth of the country, as the Fan Led Review is implemented. We have never had more need for fans who have a mixture of skills and a desire to make a difference. in all of the many, different types of work that we do.
If that seems an interesting prospect, and you want to learn more about what might be involved, do drop us a line at bst-secretary@blackpoolsupporterstrust.com . We will be delighted to hear from you.
BST
August 2022
