Ollie Happy With Fixture List

Speaking from his home in Bath minutes after the fixtures for the new season were released yesterday, Blackpool manager Ian Holloway said that he was very happy with the way that the fixture list had panned out for the Seasiders.

Ollie, currently in negotiations with the Seasiders over a new contract, said:

'I wanted to play some of the big boys before they get into their stride and get used to winning all the time. You only have to look at Burnley beating Manchester United last year.

'Arsenal and Chelsea in the first five games is just what I wanted.

'I was [also] hoping for a home game first because the whole of the Fylde coast will come out in their Tangerine shirts. It will be great with Wigan just up the road.'

Ollie also confirmed that he was relishing the prospect of facing Manchester United on the final day of the season at Old Trafford:

'On that day United will want to be picking up another Premier League trophy, while we want to be celebrating staying up.

'I am sure that Sir Alex Ferguson will have written already asking for the best bottle of red wine, though I am not sure we will be able to find one!'

Ollie also spoke about some of the transfer difficulties facing the Seasiders this summer:

'We face a complete culture shock and a complete change of everything we have ever thought about as a football club.

'I'm going to have a big iron door shut on me on August 31, when I need to have 25 players who I can use until January.

'It says you can call on your pool of under-21 players if you get injuries but we don't really have the youth set-up we need for the Premier League.

'I can't use emergency loans like last season, so we have all sorts of problems.'

However, he supported chairman Karl Oyston's stance of not paying over the odds for players:

'People think I have £90m hanging out of my pocket and can suddenly join the big boys but we won't do that.

'You only have to look at all Hull's problems. They had a great start, then added and added to it and all of sudden the wheels came off. We can't afford to do that.

'I have a fantastic bunch of lads and I want to reward that, but I want to try to add tricky people in wide areas who can unlock a few defences.'

He concluded the interview - filmed in front of his chickin houses and wearing a pink shirt! - by firing a warning to all those writing the Seasiders off already:

'There are some bookmakers who are betting that we won't get ten points, which is pretty infuriating. I will be writing that out for the players and reminding them of it.'

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