R's on The Road.......... To Blackpool.

This Saturday Paul Hart’s struggling Rangers side travel to former R’s boss Ian Holloway’s Tangerine Army Blackpool in a clash between two teams chasing the play off positions. As always here are a few hints and tips for your journey ahead.



The Stadium.

Current Capacity – 10,035

Bloomfield Road has been the home of Blackpool since 1901and has undergone a redevelopment plan over the past 10 years. On completion of the North and West Stands it was decided that the South Stand was to be pulled down, in 2003, ready for redevelopment and the away fans would be housed in a temporary stand situated to the east of the stadium. The temporary structure is still in place and in use by away fans. This has no covering and on cold days in Dec, Jan and Feb the nice breeze that you get from the sea really can rip straight through you, so wrap up warm on your visit!!
You will notice that the new South Stand is as good as completed and has been named the Jimmy Armfield Stand. Word has it that when this does open to the home fans is that the season ticket holders from the North Stand will be transferred over to the Armfield Stand and will enable away fans to take their place in a small part of the North Stand.
There are further plans to redevelop the East Stand and complete the regeneration of the stadium. This would incorporate some office or retail space (rumour) so more land needs to be acquired before building can go ahead there. On completion of the final stand the capacity of the ground would go up to 16,000.



The History between the teams.

At Blackpool (11)

Blackpool 2
QPR 4
Draw 5

Rangers’ recent record at Bloomfield Road holds pretty impressive reading, winning 3 of the last 4 encounters.
That run all started off in March 2002, the last time Rangers’ fans were housed undercover in the old battered and bruised South Stand. A Richard Langley hat-trick was the dose of the day for the play off chasing R’s and the massive Rangers’ travelling support, many of whom stayed in the town to party all night long!



How to get there.

By Car: - Today’s post code for the journey is FY1 6JJ.
The journey to Blackpool is a long one but is really easy to find.
Come off the M6 at junction 32 and follow the M55 all the way into Blackpool. As you enter Blackpool you will see the ground on your right hand side and there are two car parks that you can park in opposite the ground.

By Train:- The closest station to the ground is Blackpool South but there are very few trains that stop here and you will probably arrive at Blackpool North. Blackpool North is roughly two miles from the ground so you may find it easier to jump in a taxi or catch a number 11 bus heading in the direction of Lytham St Annes.


Pubs 'n' Grub.

The closest pub to the away ground that will accept travelling supporters is the No 1 bar, a working men’s club, which is adjacent to the away supporters’ entrance.
I would suspect that many fans will be making a day of it and will be planning on venturing into town before and maybe after the game. If this is so then you will find quite a few places to sit down and eat or drink, including the usual fast food chains such as McDonalds and KFC, there are also various fish and chip shops that I’m sure will be popular which many people that make the trip.