Avoiding the Drop

Waving hello to the Prem?

The winner of today’s Blackpool – Cardiff City match at Wembley will win 90 million British pounds (130 million American dollars), according to the fine folks at Deloitte.

Yes, you read that right.

90 MILLION POUNDS.  That is a staggering figure as a payout for one football match, honestly.  So, let’s see what each club might bring to the table as the Premier League’s 20th member for 2010-11.

In terms of Cardiff City, it’s been a slow and steady build over the last five years for the Welsh club to get to this position.  Dave Jones has done a fine job over that time, which included another trip to Wembley against Portsmouth in the 2008 FA Cup final (which they lost).   Today’s trip to Wembley is a result of their penalties victory over Leicester City in the Championship playoffs.  The Bluebirds finished fourth overall in the Championship this past season on 76 points, two points better than the season before and 12 points better than two seasons ago.  Jones has this club on the rise, without doubt.  The two leading goalscorers are Peter Whittingham and Michael Chopra (formerly of Sunderland) with 22 and 17 respectively.  It’s midfielder Joe Ledley that has everyone in the Premier League watching this match with interest though, and Ledley has said he will stay at the club if they earn promotion today.  His prodigious skill has him on the brink of Premier League football one way or the other.  Ledley has been a part of Cardiff City since 1996, but has essentially stated his intentions to move on if they cannot secure promotion, so today is vital from the club’s perspective in that regard.  The Bluebirds haven’t been in the top flight since 1961.  Today could be a magical day for them, truly.

For Blackpool, they are two seasons removed from fighting relegation on the last day of the season.  They have not been in the top flight of English football since 1971.  They ply their trade at Bloomfield Road, which has a capacity of just over 12,500, which if they were to secure promotion would make it the smallest stadium in the Premier League by a large margin (Cardiff’s stadium holds over 26 thousand, in comparison).  Yet, here they are.  They are led by noted joker Ian Holloway, who would be a fantastic addition to a roster of mostly-boring top flight managers.  Holloway has definitely toned things down since he was sacked from Leicester City, though, and has the Tangerines on the brink of a heretofore-unthinkable payday.  Blackpool does not possess a strikeforce with the capabilities of Cardiff’s, but they have a talisman in Charlie Adam, signed from Rangers, and a member of the Championship’s Team of the Season, and DJ Campbell who’s hat trick against Nottingham Forest moved the northern club to today’s match.  Blackpool typically run a very offensively-minded 4-3-3 formation and like to play at speed at all times.  They are uptempo and fun to watch, honestly.  They finished sixth in the table on 70 points (one more than the other Welsh club in that division, Swansea City) and then defeating Forest 6-4 on aggregate over two exceedingly fun legs.  They should (hopefully) keep this match today in high gear.

Of course, there is always the Wembley pitch to deal with.  Wembley has four extremely high profile matches over the next week, and is on it’s eleventh pitch since the place opened up, approximately 30 months ago.  Today’s match is followed by England v. Mexico on Monday in an international friendly.  Then next weekend on Saturday and Sunday there are the League One and League Two playoff finales.  Let’s hope, pray and send out the good vibes to northwest London that they may have finally gotten the pitch right, because quite frankly, it’s been a disaster thus far.  A true embarrassment at the top level of English football.

Let’s take a peek at the television/internet schedule.  All times Eastern as usual.

10:00 AM – Fox Soccer Plus/ESPN 3 – Blackpool v. Cardiff City [England]
2:30 PM – Fox – Bayern Munich v. Internazionale Milan [UEFA Champions League]
5:30 PM – GolTV – Palmeiras v. Gremio [Brazil]
6:00 PM – Fox Soccer Channel – San Jose Earthquakes v. Seattle Sounders (delayed) [USA]
6:00 PM – Fox Soccer Plus – Turkey v. Czech Republic (delayed) [International Friendly]
6:00 PM – ESPN 2/3 – United States v. Germany [International Women's Friendly]
7:30 PM – GolTV – Deportes Tolima v. La Equidad [Colombia]
8:00 PM – Galavision – DC United v. Houston Dynamo [USA]

Obviously, today’s big focus is around the Champions League final in Madrid, and I’m sure you’ll see a ton of comments on Twitter and in comments today on that particular event, but if you’re awake and near a television with FS Plus this morning or have access to ESPN 3, I urge you to check out Blackpool and Cardiff City, because you will not see a money-spinner like this one for the rest of this calendar year, to be sure.

Enjoy the matches today, and make sure to check out our Champions League Roundtable for our thoughts on that match.