How Blackpool were transformed into stars of today

London: Ian Evatt has no doubts about the scale of Ian Holloway's achievement in turning around a team that started the year outside the play-off places in the Championship but will finish it with a string of Premier League scalps to their name.

Evatt, 29, is a journeyman defender who would be few people's first choice as a footballer.

But, as Holloway's Blackpool sit proudly in the top half of the Premier League, he admitted: "The gaffer has taken a team of nobodies and pushed us further than any of us could have imagined".

"This group of players were nobody's first choice. We all have a reason why we ended up here. I came when the club were in League One because I needed to get my career back on track. The gaffer has believed in us when nobody else would."

Holloway's methods in convincing an unsung collection of players, assembled for just £4.5 million, that they can play in the style of Barcelona are anything but conventional. Only the charismatic Bristolian would dream of invoking the Terminator films of Arnold Schwarzenegger to inspire his squad.

"We thought he was bonkers," said Evatt. "Every other manager we had at Blackpool played strict 4-4-2 and relied mainly on a strong work ethic. Then he comes in and says right away ‘I want you to play like Barcelona'.

"We didn't have a clue how we were meant to fit in with something like that. But once we started to get a few results, we realised we actually did have good technical players at the club. Still we never dreamed we'd come as far as we have in such a short space of time."