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Holloway hailed his current squad as the best he has "ever worked with" following the win at Newcastle. Holloway could not have been more proud of his boys on Saturday after they went into the game still coming to terms with the news that youth team coach Gary Parkinson was seriously ill after suffering a stroke.They got their noses in front when the impressive Charlie Adam converted a 45th-minute penalty awarded for Alan Smith's trip on Luke Varney and DJ Campbell curled home a fine second in the 90th minuteHolloway said: "If you had asked me before we started after (Friday), the emotion we were all feeling, I wouldn't have given us a cat in hell's chance."But they just never cease to amaze me, these boys, they are the best group I have ever worked with."We have got 11 new people in and that's far too many, but that's their job, to blend, and performances and results like that will help them."
Holloway is also convinced he got a bargain when he paid out £1.25million for DJ Campbell.The much-travelled 28-year-old striker arrived at Bloomfield Road from Leicester as the transfer window drew to a close after impressing during a loan spell last season.A modest fee by Barclays Premier League standards was a big deal for the promoted Tangerines, but Campbell paid off a large slice of it with his first top-flight goal for the club in the win at Newcastle on Saturday, and Holloway is confident there are more goals to come.He told the Blackpool Gazette: "I don't think £1million is a lot of money when you are talking about a player who gets one in two - and he will do that here because we create chances."He could have had a hat-trick at Newcastle with the chances he had. I thought he looked electric, sharp and strong, and he looked like he is back home, where he is loved, wanted and cherished."It was a long, hard summer chasing him, but we got him in the end and I think he is going to flourish. I think he has a burning desire to score at this level and I think he will."
Luke Varney has warned Chelsea that Blackpool are capable of pulling off a shock victory at Stamford Bridge this weekend.The Tangerines, installed as favourites for relegation before the season began, have defied their critics so far this campaign by picking up seven points from their four Barclays Premier League fixtures to climb to fourth in the table.Perhaps the most impressive of their performances was Saturday's surprise 2-0 victory at Newcastle, which came courtesy of goals from DJ Campbell and Charlie Adam. Now Varney, who won the penalty which enabled Adam to open the scoring on Saturday, has warned the champions, who have a 100% record so far this year, that he and his team-mates are brimming with confidence ahead of Sunday's game.Varney said: "We spoke before about what we wanted from these two games and to be honest I would have taken a point from Newcastle but we can go to Chelsea now and enjoy ourselves."We are going to go there with the same attitude, the same group, the same togetherness. We're achieving a lot more than everyone was expecting so we'll be full of confidence and who knows what will happen?"