There is nothing more depressing than a seaside town in winter. Wet, windswept, deserted, half of the front behind shutters, sad lights flickering forlornly in the gloom. Not Blackpool, though. Not this winter anyway. Some residents may even be looking forward to the darker, shorter days now the town has a Premier League football club. How long this lasts, who knows? Many are predicting no more than a season but, like an outing to the coast, we should at least hop on and enjoy the ride.
The elevation of Blackpool has been compared to the arrival of Burnley or Barnsley in the Premier League. It is far more exciting than either. Not since Wimbledon made it to Division One in season 1986-87 has there been anything like this. Burnley had been nine years in the second tier, the Premier League's waiting room, before winning promotion. Their ground needed renovations costing roughly £1m, but it had four sides and a 22,500 capacity. Barnsley had been a second tier club for 16 years before hitting the big time in 1997. The capacity at Oakwell was 23,000.
Blackpool? It is hard to imagine a club more out of kilter with the concept of elite football in the 21st century. Bloomfield Road holds little more than 12,000 and is only open on three sides. The team cost approximately £835,000, of which £500,000 went on one player, Charlie Adam, the captain, bought from Rangers. Blackpool were only promoted from the third tier in 2007, escaped first season relegation by two points and followed up by finishing 16th. They began this campaign among the favourites to go down and their final position, sixth in tier two, was the club's highest since 1971. This was not a Premier League club in waiting. Its facilities were considered barely adequate for the Championship.
So is it a sin that Blackpool have scrambled their way to fixtures with Manchester United and Liverpool? Is it wrong when there are so many bigger, better-supported clubs out there? No, it is arguably the best thing to happen to English football for years.
In a world of the predictable and mundane in which the season is as good as over for many clubs almost as soon as it has begun, Blackpool are the antidote.
Like Fulham in the UEFA Cup final they show it is possible to think big, to have dreams. There are too many ready to settle in the modern game, too many who are happy to meekly exist rather than achieve. Blackpool, and their manager Ian Holloway, show the possibilities, show the worth of refusing to compromise.
"It's just like watching Brazil," Barnsley's supporters used to sing, revelling in their tale of the unexpected. Yet Holloway has made Blackpool just a little bit like watching Holland and not simply through the colour of the shirts. He favours an attacking 4-3-3 system - made popular by the Dutch –- home and away, and says he will not alter his style for the Premier League. Old sweats therefore predict high numbers in the GA column, as happened when Swindon adopted an attacking ethos and leaked 100 goals, a Premier League record. Then again, humiliation was forecast for Wimbledon, too. Like the weather in Blackpool, nothing can be guaranteed. And not every jolly boys outing ends in a wash-out.