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. It was Billy Ayre's first full season as manager.
Contents
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 latter including a hat-trick against Mansfield).
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.
Table
P W D L F A W D L F A Pts 1. BURNLEY (P) 42 14 4 3 42 16 11 4 6 37 27 83 2. ROTHERHAM UNITED (P) 42 12 6 3 38 16 10 5 6 32 21 77 3. MANSFIELD TOWN (P) 42 13 4 4 43 26 10 4 7 32 27 77 4. BLACKPOOL (P) 42 17 3 1 48 13 5 7 9 23 32 76 5. Scunthorpe United 42 14 5 2 38 18 7 4 10 25 41 72 6. Crewe Alexandra 42 12 6 3 33 20 8 4 9 33 31 70 7. Barnet 42 16 1 4 48 23 5 5 11 33 38 69 8. Rochdale 42 12 6 3 34 22 6 7 8 23 31 67 9. Cardiff City 42 13 3 5 42 26 4 12 5 24 27 66 10. Lincoln City 42 9 5 7 21 24 8 6 7 29 20 62 11. Gillingham 42 12 5 4 41 19 3 7 11 22 34 57 12. Scarborough 42 12 5 4 39 28 3 7 11 25 40 57 13. Chesterfield 42 6 7 8 26 28 8 4 9 23 33 53 14. Wrexham 42 11 4 6 31 26 3 5 13 21 47 51 15. Walsall 42 5 10 6 28 26 7 3 11 20 32 49 16. Northampton 42 5 9 7 25 23 6 4 11 21 33 46 17. Hereford United 42 9 4 8 31 24 3 4 14 13 33 44 18. Maidstone United 42 6 9 6 24 22 2 9 10 21 34 42 19. York City 42 6 9 6 26 23 2 7 12 16 35 40 20. Halifax Town 42 7 5 9 23 35 3 3 15 11 40 38 21. Doncaster Rovers 42 6 2 13 21 35 3 6 12 19 30 35 22. Carlisle United 42 5 9 7 24 27 2 4 15 17 40 34P = Matches played; W = Matches won; D = Matches drawn; L = Matches lost; F = Goals for; A = Goals against; Pts = Points
Table is split into home and away statistics.
Semi-finals
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.
Final
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.
Appearances
Players used: 28
Goals
Total goals scored: 88