Scots quartet take Blackpool to brink of Premier League

BLACKPOOL'S lure to thrill seekers from north of the border is as strong as it ever was, it appears. In Tuesday night's heroic play-off defeat of Nottingham Forest – which leaves the club only one win away from the dizzy heights of the Premier League – there were four Scots in the ranks.

Manager Ian Holloway has taken the Seasiders, one of the pre-season favourites for relegation, to the Coca-Cola Championship play-off final at Wembley, with no little help from his Caledonian contingent. The club's top scorer this season is former Rangers player Charlie Adam, and although he wasn't on the scoresheet at the City Ground, his compatriot Stephen Dobbie came off the bench to score one of the goals in the thrilling 4-3 win.

Also in the thick of the action was former Celtic and Scotland defender Stephen Crainey, while keeping Dobbie company on the bench was Barry Bannan, a Scotland under-21 international currently on loan from Aston Villa.

The Scottish quartet have played an important part in a taking Blackpool back to the brink of English football's top tier for the first time since 1971. If they manage to secure promotion, they will be one of the smallest clubs to ever play alongside the top flight big guns.

Here we look at Blackpool's ground, finances, players and history to assess how the club might fare against the giants of the game.

• STADIUM

Bloomfield Road, currently undergoing redevelopment, had a capacity of 9,491 at the start of the season but with ongoing redevelopment, currently holds more than 12,000, with the potential to go up to around the 16,000 mark. Portsmouth's Fratton Park was the smallest ground in the Barclays Premier League in 2009-10, with a capacity of 20,688. Blackpool's home ground is currently the second smallest in the Coca-Cola Championship, second only to Scunthorpe's Glanford Park. Premier League teams occasionally struggle in the intense atmosphere of compact grounds – with Burnley's defeat of Manchester United last season proving this.

• FINANCES

Manager Holloway has admitted that his side's dream season could not have happened without the financial support of president Valery Belokon. The Seasiders manager revealed that Belokon gave him 1.65million to spend on players at the start of the season. 500,000 was spent on bringing Charlie Adam to the club, while the rest was used to pay the wages of loan signings like DJ Campbell, shrewd business when you consider his match-winning performance against Forest this week. How- ever Blackpool still have one of the smallest wage budgets in the league, reported to be around 68,000 per week.

• PLAYERS

According to Holloway, Adam's arrival from Rangers in August was the catalyst for Blackpool's impressive campaign. The record signing's goals from midfield earned him a place in the PFA Championship Team of the year, while Campbell's first career hat-trick in the second leg win at Nottingham Forest could not have been better timed.

• THE GLORY DAYS

Blackpool have not featured in the top flight of English football since 1971 and a win in the play-off final would rival the 1953 'Matthews Final' as one of the club's best moments, particularly considering they were playing in English football's fourth tier as recently as 2001. Named after Sir Stanley Matthews, the 1953 FA Cup final is known for Matthews' solo performance in the 4-3 victory over Bolton.