Terry McPhillips is happy with his first season in charge at Blackpool

The Seasiders take on Gillingham this evening in their final game of the season, looking to confirm a top-10 finish in the League One table.

That would count as progress from last season, where they finished in 12th under the management of Gary Bowyer.

Bowyer’s surprise departure just one game into the campaign threw the club back into chaos.

However, McPhillips has continued the good work and kept Pool just outside the play-off positions for the majority of the season.

Add the fans’ return and the two cup games against Arsenal – the Carabao Cup meeting at the Emirates and the FA Cup tie at Bloomfield Road – and McPhillips is happy with how the season has gone.

“We had the Nolan sisters in my office and we had a drink and a good laugh,” McPhillips joked when asked for his highlight of the season.

“They’re nice, normal people – so that’s up there.

“But the highlight is obviously the Southend game when the crowd has come back in abundance and the atmosphere was electrifying.

“That’s number one but the Arsenal games are up there as well. You want to pit yourselves against the best and we went to the Emirates and gave them a good game and nearly got a draw, which would have taken it to penalties.

“Arsenal again here at home after a good cup run. There were three games on TV as well which generated some cash for the club, significant money for the two cup runs.

“We’ve had a bit of a go to get in the play-offs but we’ve not quite managed it but we know where the deficiency is – scoring goals.

“So if we can keep the majority of these lads and get better at scoring goals then it’ll be more exciting next season.

“With what happened at the start, we were probably bookies’ favourites to go down.

“There was a lot of negativity but I think it’s fair to say it’s finished on a positive.

“The fans being back, it’s a good time to look forward to next season.”

Heading into today’s final game of the campaign, which kicks off at the later time of 5.30pm, McPhillips believes it’s important for the players to finish the season on a high note.

“The fans have come back in their numbers and they have sang their hearts out in every game, so I really hope we can respond with a performance and a victory,” the Pool boss added.

“We all want to do better, don’t we? Players want to do better playing in front of a big crowd, something we all want to do.

“We’ve done better away from home when we’ve played big teams and in front of big crowds.

“We managed to get the late winner against Fleetwood which was great for the fans and everyone involved. You always want to finish on a victory.”