With a pre season behind him, new manager Gary Bowyer has said he’s relishing the opener this weekend against Exeter City.
Having arrived over the summer looking to rebuild Blackpool following last year’s relegation, Bowyer has been pleased with the work done so far but now he’s relishing his first real match in charge.
Speaking to the Official Site in his pre game press conference, Bowyer explained.
‘It’s been a long time coming over pre-season but I’m glad it’s finally here. It’s a marathon and not a sprint but your start is important. We’ll try and get some momentum going very, very quickly. The sooner you get that win, the better it is for everybody. We’ll be trying very hard on Saturday to get up and running.’
With nine new arrivals under him, he knows it’s a much changed Blackpool side this year, and he’s still hoping to add a few more if deals can be done.
‘We’re trying to identify one or two more but the lads that are here have given me a tremendous amount of effort and hard work over pre-season. They’ve bought in to what we’re trying to achieve, but we’ve only been together for six weeks and it’s going to take time. We need to be a little bit patient with that but the games are coming thick and fast now, and that helps massively.’
With new signings Andy Taylor and Jamille Matt missing parts of pre season with injury, they both have returned to training this week.
‘Minutes played isn’t ideally what we would have wanted but we play five or six games in the next two weeks so there’s plenty of minutes for them to catch up on. They’re experienced enough to manage themselves through games so we’re happy enough with that.’
As for Exeter and Paul Tisdale, well Tisdale has notched up a decade in charge of the club, and Bowyer respects the job he’s done with them.
‘It’s a massive achievement and I’m delighted that the club have shown him that much faith and confidence in him. He’s a fantastic manager and it just shows you what culture can be developed given time. They’ve been established for some time now and that’s one of the challenges we face on Saturday.’
