UK post free, please e-mail for overseas postage cost

Phoenix from the Ashes: The Rise and Rise of Blackpool Football Club 1887 - 1888

Gerry Wolstenholme

Published in 2019 by Red Rose Books, Cumbria

Original A5 card wrappers, new.

(iv) + 40 pages, illustrated.

Limited edition number 68 of 100 copies, signed and numbered by Gerry Wolstenholme.

A cry

UK post free, please e-mail for overseas postage cost

Phoenix from the Ashes: The Rise and Rise of Blackpool Football Club 1887 - 1888

Gerry Wolstenholme

Published in 2019 by Red Rose Books, Cumbria

Original A5 card wrappers, new.

(iv) + 40 pages, illustrated.

Limited edition number 68 of 100 copies, signed and numbered by Gerry Wolstenholme.

A cry for Victorian Blackpool Football Club’s supporters was always ‘Play Up Blackpool’ but that cry died on their lips after one game of the 1886/87 season. Unfortunately the club folded after that game and left bitter rivals South Shore FC as the senior club on the Fylde Coast. This was a bitter pill to swallow for the diehard Blackpool Football Club supporters and as the season progressed their resentment at the death of their beloved club festered. As a consequence, once the season was over, moves were afoot to reform the town team. As many of the players had moved to the Blackpool St John’s club, it followed that the discussions to reform a town team would take place in the St John’s schoolroom. Unfortunately things did not go well for Blackpool Football Club supporters as the president of St John’s refused to have his club lose its denominational title. Blackpool supporters therefore moved to the adjacent Stanley Arms and resumed discussions without interference. As a result the 1887/88 season saw a newly formed Blackpool Football Club competing once again. And what sort of season was it? Phoenix from the Ashes answers that question!