Blackpool cancel pre-season due to lack of players

The Championship side currently have eight professional footballers on their books.

Blackpool cancel pre-season due to lack of players

Blackpool have cancelled their pre-season trip to Spain, where they were due to play Granada and Cartagena next week.

In a statement released yesterday on their website they said new manager José Riga made the decision “in order to spend more time on player recruitment.”

In the statement club chairman Karl Oyston backed that decision.

“The manager has taken the decision - and I agree with the decision - to cancel the pre-season tour,” said Oyston. “Our time is better served to try and get some of the player deals that we've been trying to get over the line.”

Since the Championship season ended in May the club have offloaded 27 players from their books. They currently have no goalkeeper and have only eight players listed on their website, three defenders, a single midfielder and four strikers.

The Seasiders have endured a huge fall from grace since they won a play-off to achieve their first ever promotion to the Premier League in 2010.

Celebrating promotion to the Premier League

Despite some historic wins, including victories over Liverpool and Spurs, they were relegated on the final day.

They had three different managers between November 2012 and May 2013 and finished last season in 20th place in the Championship.

In a further statement on the website today the chairman insisted they would be ready to compete by the start of the season.

“I see absolutely no reason why we shouldn’t be able to recruit sufficient numbers and quality to be able to compete in the Championship,” said Oyston. “The main thing people want to see is players signing for us and I think once we get some signed, and everything settles down, then we’ll soon forget about some of the problems.”

Blackpool’s first competitive match of the season is against Nottingham Forest on 9 August.

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