Blackpool have been handed a boost ahead of the Championship play-off final against Cardiff on Saturday after boss Ian Holloway distanced himself from the vacant managerial position at West Ham (Holloway 33/1 Next Permanent West Ham Manager).

Holloway has been linked to the Hammers job following an excellent season at Bloomfield Road in which he has guided the club to within 90 minutes of the Premier League (Blackpool 6/5 Promotion) following a top-six Championship finish and play-off semi-final win against Nottingham Forest.

However, ahead of Saturday’s Wembley showdown against Cardiff City, (Blackpool 21/10,Cardiff 13/10, draw 9/4 90 Minutes) Holloway has pledged his long-term future to the Seasiders.

He said: “It’s an honour to be linked with something like that but it’s not genuine is it? If it was genuine then my chairman (Karl Oyston) would be talking to me about it. I think a lot of journalists are quite lazy. They look at things and think ‘oh, we can throw that name in’.

“At the end of the day it’s the people at the top of the clubs who make these decisions. You read the stories but these newspapers will be wrapping someone’s chips tomorrow. Never believe what you read in the papers. I don’t.

“I’m doing a job as well as I possibly can and I’m more than happy to keep doing it.”

Holloway’s outburst comes on the back of Blackburn’s denial that West Ham have made an approach to take Sam Allardyce (16/1) to Upton Park, while Portsmouth have paved the way clear for Avram Grant (1/10) to leave Fratton Park and take the job by saying they will not demand any compensation.

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