Charlie Adam Takes On Blackpool

In a worrying development for Ian Holloway and Blackpool, club captain Charlie Adam will take his club to a Premier League arbitration court next week over unpaid bonuses. Adam is set to take the club to court over unpaid payments after the Seasiders avoided relegation from the Championship. While Adam of course is right to ask for the money he is owed, you have to doubt his timing.

Blackpool have had an excellent start to the season, and in many ways it has been completely unexpected, but their success has been built on the momentum and togetherness that has been created under the charismatic Ian Holloway.

Looking at Blackpool from an outsiders perspective the one thing that is noticeable is how all the players seem to singing from the same hymn sheet.  You have to feel that Adam’s lack of patience could really damage their bid for survival.

Why didn’t he wait for till the end of the season to make his demands? There wouldn’t have been a fall in the legitimacy of his claim and while there still might have been unrest in the camp, it wouldn’t have been made public.

But Seasiders boss Ian Holloway is adamant that the situation won’t damage his sides chances of survival, and has been quick to distance himself from the whole situation. He said: “If there’s a problem then that’s none of my business.

“That’s between the club and one of the players and it’ll be sorted out by arbitration by the sounds of it. If Charlie feels that way and the chairman feels that way and there’s a dispute, then someone else has to sort it out and I’m just glad it’s not me.”

But Holloway will be concerned by the fact that should Adam win his case, he could look to have his deal cancelled for breach of contract. That would be a massive blow for the club, not only because they would be losing arguably their best player, but they would be losing him for nothing, a big financial blow considering he has 22-months left on his current deal.

While the whole situation demonstrates that player-power is becoming a real problem in Premier League football, I would urge the Blackpool hierarchy to sort it out before the court date, because it has the potential to be very damaging for the club both on and off the field.