| Club: | Blackpool F.C. |
| Season: | 1991–92 |
| League: | Division Four |
| Chrtitle: | Owner and chairman |
| Chairman: | Owen Oyston |
| Manager: | Billy Ayre |
| League Result: | 4th (promoted via play-offs to Division Two) |
| League Topscorer: | Dave Bamber (28) |
| Season Topscorer: | Dave Bamber (36) |
| Highest Attendance: | 8,007 (v. Burnley) |
| Lowest Attendance: | 2,155 (v. Mansfield Town) |
| Cup1: | FA Cup |
| Cup1 Result: | Second round |
| Cup2: | League Cup |
| Cup2 Result: | Second round |
| Pattern La1: | _whiteborder |
| Pattern B1: | _collarnavy |
| Pattern Ra1: | _whiteborder |
| Pattern So1: | _2 white stripes |
| Leftarm1: | ff9020 |
| Body1: | ff9020 |
| Rightarm1: | ff9020 |
| Shorts1: | ffffff |
| Socks1: | ff9020 |
| Prevseason: | 1990–91 |
The 1991–92 season was Blackpool F.C.'s 84th season (81st consecutive) in the Football League. They competed in the 22-team Division Four, then the fourth tier of English football. They finished fourth, missing out on automatic promotion by one point for the second consecutive season after a final-day defeat at Lincoln City, and were promoted via the play-offs to the new Division Two.[1] It was Billy Ayre's first full season as manager.
The first two home League fixtures saw Blackpool extend their win streak at Bloomfield Road to fifteen League games. Their 24-game unbeaten run at home ended, after just over a year, with a defeat by Crewe Alexandra on 23 November.
Dave Bamber was the club's top scorer for the second consecutive season, with 36 goals (28 in the league, one in the play-offs, one in the FA Cup and six in the League Cup).
The six goals Blackpool scored against Aldershot were expunged from the record books when the latter went out of business in March 1992, hence only 71 of Blackpool's actual 77 league goals scored in the 1991–92 season are accounted for in the table below.
Blackpool and Barnet met in the two-legged semi-finals of the play-offs. Barnet won the first leg by a single goal, at Underhill on 10 May. Blackpool, however, managed to turn the tie around in the return leg at Bloomfield Road three days later. Paul Groves (40') and an Andy Garner penalty in front of the South Stand, ten minutes into the second half, gave the Seasiders a 2–0 victory on the night and 2–1 on aggregate. A pitch invasion ensued at the final whistle.
On 23 May, Blackpool met Scunthorpe United in the final at Wembley. Blackpool manager Billy Ayre was accompanied by the club mascot — his son, David — during the pre-match walk out to the centre circle.
The game finished 1–1 after normal time and extra time, a Tony Daws strike equalising Dave Bamber's close-range header. It went to a penalty-shootout, which Blackpool won 4–3. Mitch Cook, Paul Groves, Andy Garner and David Eyres were the successful takers for Blackpool, but it was Steve McIlhargey's save from substitute Graham Alexander that set up the victory. After Eyres' effort, Scunthorpe's other substitute, Jason White, stepped up, put the ball over the bar, and Blackpool were promoted.
Blackpool
1McIlhargey
2Burgess
3Cook
4Groves (c)
5Davies (for Murphy)
6Gore
7Rodwell
8Horner (for Sinclair)
9Bamber
10Garner
11Eyres
Substitutes:
12Murphy (for Davies)
14Sinclair (for Horner)
Manager:
Billy AyreScunthorpe United
1Samways
2Joyce
3Longden
4Hill
5Elliott
6Humphries
7Martin
8Hamilton
9Daws (for White)
10Buckley (for Alexander)
11Helliwell
Substitutes:
12White (for Daws)
14Alexander (for Buckley)
Manager:
Bill Green
| Name | League | Play-offs | FA Cup | League Cup | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 44 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 53[2] | ||
| 44 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 53 | ||
| 43 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 51 | ||
| 43 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 51 | ||
| 42 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 51 | ||
| 29 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 38 | ||
| 30 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 38 | ||
| 31 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 37 | ||
| 29 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 35 | ||
| 29 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 35 | ||
| 26 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 29 | ||
| 25 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 28 | ||
| 20 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 25 | ||
| 17 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 21 | ||
| 12 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 16 | ||
| 15 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 15 | ||
| 13 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 13 | ||
| 8 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 11 | ||
| 9 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 10 | ||
| 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | ||
| 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 5 | ||
| 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 5 | ||
| 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 | ||
| 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | ||
| 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | ||
| 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | ||
| 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | ||
| 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
Players used: 28
| Name | League | Play-offs | FA Cup | League Cup | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 28 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 36 | ||
| 10 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 13 | ||
| 11 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 11 | ||
| 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 10 | ||
| 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 5 | ||
| 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | ||
| 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | ||
| 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | ||
| 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
Total goals scored: 88
| width=20% | Date | width=25% | Player | width=30% | From | width=15% | Fee |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1991 | Mark Bonner | Trainee | |||||
| 1991 | Andy Howard | Unknown | Unknown | ||||
| 1991 | Dylan Kerr | Loan | |||||
| 1991 | Grant Leitch | Trainee | |||||
| 1991 | Neil Mitchell | Trainee | |||||
| 1991 | Mark Murray | Unknown | Unknown | ||||
| 1991 | Paul Stoneman | Unknown | Unknown | ||||
| 9 January 1992 | Jason Kearton | Everton | Two-month loan | ||||
| 26 March 1992 | Mitch Cook | Darlington | Unknown |
| width=20% | Date | width=25% | Player | width=30% | To | width=15% | Fee |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1991 | Dave Lancaster | Unknown | Unknown | ||||
| 1991 | Alan Wright | Blackburn Rovers | £400,000 |