Can Blackpool survive in the Championship?

Will Blackpool be scouring the beaches for players?

Things are not pretty for Blackpool fans at the moment and any piece entitled 'Can Blackpool survive in the Championship?' will probably be met with a swift 'No' from fans. Heck as a Pompey fan I've been there. Still lets see what hope, if any, there is...

It has been a bizarre and frustrating summer for Blackpool fans and the new Championship season is now upon them.

Blackpool were enjoying the dizzy heights of the Premier League only four years ago, but things are drastically different now around Bloomfield Road as they struggle to be ready for the opening weekend.

Blackpool only narrowly avoided relegation from the Championship last season after going on a run of 18 games without a victory under first Paul Ince, who was sacked in January, and then caretaker-manager Barry Ferguson. The fans will have been happy to see the back of that painful campaign but then had to endure a summer which saw the club in disarray.

The end of the season prompted an exodus from Bloomfield Road that saw a total of 27 players leave the club, including their prized asset Tom Ince. It left Blackpool with only eight contracted players and no goalkeeper on the books.

During the summer Blackpool's angry fans have seen a tour of Spain cancelled and the club struggling to get sufficient numbers to field a side during their limited pre-season games. The most common sight on the team-sheet this summer by a long way has been 'Trialist'.

A dispute between new manager Jose Riga, who only took charge in June, and chairman Karl Oyston over the club's transfer policy saw the close-season recruitment drive stall in first gear. That left Blackpool in an unenviable situation of having to scramble round in the last days before the season trying to get in players so they have a squad capable of starting the Championship campaign.

In little over a week Blackpool have brought in eight players, and finally have a goalkeeper after Joe Lewis arrived on a season-long loan from Cardiff City. Finally the club have enough players for their Championship opener against Nottingham Forest, but possibly not enough yet to warrant the official team photo. With only 16 contracted players Blackpool will need to make further signings before the transfer window closes if they hope to be able to compete in the Championship, but it is going to be a big ask for Riga's side to survive in a hotly-contested league.

However, the truth is that this Blackpool squad is a ramshackle bunch of players cobbled together out of little more than desperation. It is a collection of players who were unwanted or unloved elsewhere, predominantly free transfers and loans brought in to bulk out the numbers. We are not talking big names or high-profile stars and the new signings are hardly likely to have prompted angry Blackpool fans to feel a fresh outbreak of optimism.

The biggest worry has to be that Riga has got no time at all before the Championship starts to get these players together on the training ground. Such a lack of organisation and understanding is undoubtedly going to be reflected on the pitch, and the players are also not going to be match fit.

Blackpool have had only two pre-season friendlies, against Penrith in July and Burnley at the start of August, and the majority of the new signings will not have featured. That means Blackpool are going into the opening game against Nottingham Forest with a starting XI who will not have played together and most will not have had a pre-season under their belts. It does not bode well for the Tangerines at the start of a long and demanding Championship campaign.

There is going to be no team spirit or unity throughout the camp, as the ever-growing squad is more like a band of footballing mercenaries built for survival than an outfit primed for a crack at promotion. It looks like there is only one way out of the Championship for Blackpool this season, and that is down. This could be a long and painful campaign for Riga's Tangerines.