Gilks The Hero as ‘Pool Win for Parkinson

By: Max | September 12th, 2010

Matt Gilks made 7 or 8 world class saves to deny Newcastle in this highly entertaining affair at St James Park; it was a game that combines exhilerating football with two background stories that would coax emotions other than the standard ‘high’ and ‘low’ experienced by the average football fan. ‘Doing something out of the ordinary’ should probably be written in orange on the pie napkins on Bloomfiled Road.

What most fans will notice is the goal celebration of skipper Charlie Adam, who held up a small white T shirt to the camera’s with the message ‘4 Parky’ after putting his penalty past Steve Harper for the Seasiders first goal. ‘Parky’ is Youth Team Head Coach Gary Parkinson, who was in intensive care last night after suffering from a stroke. In the way that has become typically Blackpool, unassuming, and moderate but lovable, the players and coaching staff came together at the final whistle to show a humble solidarity at such an unfortunate turn of events for the club. Parkinson’s current condition has been described by staff at Royal Bolton hostpital as ‘very poorly’.

The other second story of the day was the star performance of Blackpool goalkeeper Matt Gilks, who has been called up to the Scotland squad after resurecting his career from not even playing football and working in a garage, mending cars. Gilks denied Kevin Nolan and Andy Carroll twice, and also denyed Joey Barton from point blank range to ensure a highly important victory for Ollie’s Army.

Newcaslte are, or were in almost exactly the same boat as Blackpool before yesterdays fixture, having made one hard faught draw, one surprising win, and one crushing defeat to a ‘top-four’ club. So playing football so fluently, with Adam pulling the strings and ‘Pool playing delightful football on the backyard of another big club – and winning – is surely nothing but a very welcome sign of good things to come.