'They weren't good enough:' Blackpool legend delivers honest verdict on the Seasiders' failed campaign

They fell short, they wanted at least the play-offs to get back into the Championship at the first time of asking; unfortunately it wasn’t to be. They’ve just been a bit too inconsistent, when they’ve been good at home, they’ve been very good, but their away form is what cost them.

On the last day, Northampton scored a late goal, which would’ve been enough if they had done their job. When you’re relying on other people on the final day, you’re in the laps of the gods.

At the end of the day, you can only do what you can do, it’s irrelevant what other people do- you have to win your game first, and Blackpool didn’t. It was a tough season, they had injuries to big players. Jordan Rhodes scored a lot of goals, but then suffered with injury.

It’s disappointing, but Neil Critchley will have a full summer to get the people he wants to get in. There’s always pressure, that’s football, it’s just about how you deal with it.

On the days where Blackpool did play well, they looked like a very good team in that league, but the consistency wasn’t there and they weren’t good enough to get into the play-offs. The 46 games over a season, the table is normally right at the end.

There were some good teams in the league- Portsmouth, Derby and Bolton, so it was always going to be a difficult job to get the automatic spots, but they were well capable of getting the play-offs.

It’s going to be another tough year, but the likes of Wrexham and Stockport will have to sign a lot of players, they should be on a pretty steady ship.

The good thing about Neil Critchley is the contacts he’s got. He brought in a load of young lads during his first spell, they took a bit of time to settle, but they turned into fantastic players. He hasn’t lost that, he’s still got an eye for talent- he identifies those players. If you look at team photos, they’re never the same two years in a row, it’s always changing. People leave, that’s just how football is.

I always think you need a good mix, with a couple of experienced lads to keep the young ones together.

The loan players this season have done well. I wouldn’t be surprised if (Karamoko) Dembele ends up with a Championship team. He wasn’t rushed at Blackpool and was managed well. He might want to come back to Bloomfield Road- who knows?