End of world if we drop - Holloway

Ian Holloway will find no solace in defeat should Blackpool lose their fight for survival at Old Trafford on Sunday.

When the Tangerines were being tipped to be relegated from the npower Championship at the start of last season, the idea they would be facing Manchester United at the end of this one seemed preposterous.

With by far the smallest playing budget of the 20 top-flight clubs, and the lowest average gate, Holloway has performed a minor miracle to keep his side in survival contention with one game to go. However, the charismatic Bristolian gave a definitive answer when asked what relegation would mean: "It will be the end of the world," he said.

"It will definitely feel like that. You can't be a football manager, or a player, or have anything to do with a club and be happy if you go down. All you can do is let the dust settle and go on."

Holloway made a pledge when Blackpool gained promotion by beating Cardiff in a Wembley play-off he regards as secondary to the task now facing his team.

Tempting as it would be to smash a pay structure that had been strictly adhered to by chairman Karl Oyston, the pair knew it was no way to run Blackpool's finances.

So, should they fall, the Tangerines will do so knowing the financial disasters that have affected so many other Barclays Premier League clubs who find their status cruelly stripped away will not be creeping up on them.

"We have been very clever with our budget," said Holloway. "We have contracts to protect the club that other clubs don't. More fool them.

"There is no danger of not being in existence. We will not go out of business. What I will have are some very tough business decisions to make because we might lose this group of players.

"I can't do much about that. We are not in the same ball park as some of these other teams and what they can pay. That is just the way it is."