Blackpool had been caught completely off guard by Swansea. During the match, they looked dizzy and disoriented.
The tactical approach Swansea were using felt fresh and unfamiliar to Division Three teams.
It was the sort of football that clubs at this level might want to play, but usually found very difficult to execute effectively.
In the 44th minute, Cromwell assisted Grosso, who cut inside during a fast attack and blasted the ball into Blackpool's net.
Even then, Lynn could still hear boos and abuse behind him.
He imdiately stood up, placed his index finger in front of his lips, and turned to face the Seasiders supporters in the stands.
Be quiet!
Lynn's gesture instantly enraged the crowd.
After Lynn sat back down on the bench, a pile of objects ca raining down from above, landing on the roof of the dugout.
Emlyn Hughes and the other coaches were terrified, but Lynn rely leaned back under the banging roof of the technical area and burst into laughter.
Steve McMahon gnashed his teeth.
Lynn was far too arrogant!
But there was nothing he could do.
On the pitch, Blackpool were already 3-0 down!
At ho!
McMahon had thought he had figured Swansea out, but he never expected Swansea to display such astonishing strength.
All his preparation and match arrangents could be thrown into the North Sea.
They were all rubbish!
Blackpool's morale was in chaos.
Following their manager's instructions, they had attacked fiercely from the start, but the way the match developed was completely beyond their expectations.
The situation seed different from what they had imagined.
No.
It was completely different!
During half-ti, the Swansea players discussed the match in lively spirits.
"Boss, our new tactic is really effective!" Villa said excitedly.
Cromwell imdiately followed, "Exactly. We press them until they lose their rhythm, then switch quickly from defense to attack and hit them with fast breaks. Every good chance is deadly! Boss, your tactical arrangent is brilliant!"
"Can you stop flattering the Boss for a mont?" Ibrahimović complained to Cromwell. "Can't your passing improve a little more? In the first half, there were at least two great chances where your pass was just slightly off. Otherwise, I would have had a one-on-one!"
Cromwell laughed loudly. "Sorry, sorry. I'll work harder next ti. I promise I'll deliver the package you want right on ti. Haha, on the pitch, I'm basically a courier."
Lynn watched the players chatting and laughing, but did not join in.
He stood by the door, preparing to emphasize tactical discipline before the second half began and then send them back onto the pitch.
In his mind, however, he had other thoughts.
According to this tactical setup, with Villa and Ibrahimović as the two forwards, Villa's speed and high success rate in beating the offside trap allowed him to seize chances and create one-on-ones.
Ibrahimović, however, was clearly half a beat slower.
Considering that once opponents began paying greater attention to Swansea and marked the two forwards more tightly when they tried to beat the offside line, this tactical approach might not remain so sharp forever.
The next step, if they wanted to create even more unexpected changes, would definitely focus on the flanks!
Grosso, Evra, Tobias Rau, Hanno Balitsch, Jas Cook.
Speed was naturally the first priority.
Lynn sighed inwardly.
Accumulating points to exchange for cards made his days feel very tight.
If he had to na the two players with the most obvious results, they would naturally be Villa and Ibrahimović.
Between the two of them, they already had eleven cards.
Add Jas Cook and Cromwell, and the four players had twenty-one cards combined!
The other players either had only one card or none at all!
In the exchanges to co, he still needed to keep trading for S-cards to improve the players' technical ability.
As for P-cards like Greenfield Speedster, which cost thirty points each, he probably should not even think about them before the end of the season.
Seeing that it was almost ti, Lynn clapped his hands.
After attracting the players' attention, he said, "All right. In the second half, our first priority is to defend well. Don't let the match take another turning point. The defensive line should drop slightly deeper. Co on. Blackpool are only this strong. We can beat them comfortably! Let's go ho with victory."
The players shouted in unison, "Yes! Let's go ho with victory!"
Returning to the touchline for the second half, Lynn continued sitting on the bench.
Steve McMahon's expression was grave, as though he had reorganized his team's attack and defense during half-ti and now planned to go all in during the second half.
Blackpool's attacks beca even fiercer after the break.
Their midfielders and defenders pushed forward to join the attack, and their aggression in duels and pressing also grew stronger.
The three forr Swansea players were even more active.
When Lee Jenkins drove forward down the right, he was t by a precise interception from Tobias Rau.
Afterward, Jenkins lost his composure during the counter-press and slid in, bringing Rau down!
Lynn shot to his feet.
When he saw the referee show Jenkins only a yellow card, he flew into a rage and roared at the fourth official, "That's only a bloody yellow? Does my player have to break his leg first?"
Before the fourth official could speak, McMahon shouted toward Lynn, "Stop talking rubbish over there! That was just an ordinary foul. Shut your mouth and go back to your place like a good boy!"
Lynn was so angry that he laughed. "Even if you use every dirty trick you have, so what? You're still going to lose, aren't you? Idiot. Carry on like this and you'll rot in Division Three!"
McMahon stepped forward, trying to fire back at Lynn. "My team is none of your business! You'd better mind your own fucking affairs!"
Lynn still wanted to say more, but the fourth official had already stepped between them, pushing them apart with both hands.
The players' emotions on the pitch were affected.
The impact in the stands was even greater!
On the side closest to the away supporters' section, no one knew who had started it, but soone among the Blackpool fans began provoking the Swansea supporters.
The fans of the two teams imdiately fell into a fiery confrontation.
Blackpool did at least co up with sothing new when insulting their opponents.
The noise gradually grew louder and louder until it beca deafening.
"Swanshit! Swanshit! Swanshit!"
Swansea, when split apart, beca "Swan" and "Sea."
The na was essentially a combination of swan and sea.
The Blackpool fans changed "Sea" into "Shit," so when shouted aloud, it beca Swanshit.
Swan plus shit.
Hearing the ho supporters shouting such insults at the Swans, the thousand or so Swansea fans who had traveled to the away match naturally refused to accept it.
They quickly searched for a counterattack.
Soon, two voices began echoing alternately inside the stadium.
After the ho fans shouted Swanshit, the away fans imdiately responded in unison:
Blackfool!
Blackpool's English na was, of course, Blackpool.
The Swansea fans changed "Pool" into "Fool."
So inside Bloomfield Road, two chants began ringing back and forth.
"Swanshit!"
"Blackfool!"
"Swanshit!"
"Blackfool!"
Sitting in the box watching the match, Blackpool chairman Oyston looked stunned.
He rarely saw Blackpool fans create such enormous noise at ho.
The crowd was so furious that they resembled beasts about to lose their minds.
The Swansea fans had completely been dragged into the rhythm.
Without the ho supporters' insults, they certainly would not have fought back so fiercely.
The atmosphere on the pitch beca increasingly explosive.
However, Swansea were still the side more capable of creating scoring chances.
In the 77th minute, Tobias Rau suddenly overlapped forward from the back.
After combining with Grosso on the flank, he reached the byline and sent in a cross that completely tore open Blackpool's defense.
In the middle of the goalmouth, Ibrahimović t it with a first-ti finish and sent the ball into the net.
After scoring, Ibrahimović also made a gesture telling the ho fans to shut up.
That action enraged the ho supporters.
The order in the stands began to sway dangerously, as though it might collapse in the very next second and erupt into violent conflict.
The already limited security staff inside the stadium imdiately rushed toward the area near the away supporters' section to maintain order.
McMahon walked back to the bench unwillingly and sat down.
Once the score beca 4-0, he could only accept his fate.
His team could do nothing to the Swans and could only accept being slaughtered.
McMahon felt extrely heavy-hearted, because the competition for promotion this year was far more severe than expected.
Even last season's Swansea would, at most, have been on a similar level to Blackpool this season.
But the current Swansea belonged to the leading group alongside Brighton and Cardiff City.
There was a strong possibility that those three clubs would divide the three automatic promotion tickets among themselves.
The situation was deeply unfavorable.
In the final three minutes, the order in the stands faintly showed signs of collapsing.
Seeing that things were not looking good, the referee did not want to invite trouble upon himself.
He simply added one minute of stoppage ti before blowing the final whistle, declaring the match over and quickly leaving this dangerous place.
Inside the box, Blackpool chairman Oyston stood with a dazed expression.
Losing to Swansea was infuriating, but after seeing the fans in the stands acting as though they wanted to tear the Swansea supporters apart, he sensed the beginning of a crisis.
This was not the usual state of his club's supporters.
There had to be outsiders inciting them!
A thought instantly flashed through his mind.
Football hooligans!
A group that English football was certainly not unfamiliar with.
Although Britain had begun dealing with the problem of football hooliganism from the late 1980s, and although it had even led Pri Minister Margaret Thatcher, in anger, to ban English clubs from participating in European competitions, football hooligans had not disappeared.
They had flowed in two directions.
The first was the world stage. They shifted toward causing trouble at national team matches.
A famous example was the 1994 match between Ireland and England in Dublin, where large-scale football hooligan disturbances broke out.
The second was from the higher leagues into the lower leagues.
Incidents of football hooliganism at England's top level had clearly decreased.
But what about the lower leagues?
Division One, Division Two, Division Three!
The lower the level of competition, the weaker the supervision!
That gave football hooligans the opportunity to slip through the cracks.
The previous major investigation and crackdown on football hooliganism in Britain had been driven by the Hillsborough disaster and the Heysel disaster, after which Taylor led the inquiry and produced the Taylor Report.
Ten years had passed.
Now English football had once again reached a stage where football hooliganism needed to be dealt with, and the ongoing investigation was being led by Bassam.
Unfortunately, Division Three, with its very low profile and influence, was simply not a focus of outside attention.
One could imagine it easily. On a single weekend in the sa week, the Premier League had ten matches, Division One had twelve matches, and Division Two had twelve matches.
Just maintaining security and supervision at those stadiums already required enormous manpower and resources.
By the ti it was Division Three's turn, who would guarantee their matchday safety?
The crackdown on football hooligans worked from the top down.
Lower-league clubs seed only able to watch hooligans run wild and suffer under their tornt.
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