AFC Fylde confirm Tollitt signing and six pre-season fixtures

Tollitt, 25, joins the Coasters on a one-year deal after his contract with Macclesfield Town expired.

An Everton youth player, the Liverpudlian earned a one-year deal at Portsmouth in 2015, then spent three years at Tranmere Rovers, initially on loan.

Tollitt signed for Blackpool last summer but never played for the club. After a loan spell at Wrexham, he left Bloomfield Road in January and signed for Macclesfield.

The winger has made 50 EFL appearances and told the club website: “Nowadays, everything is pretty uncertain, so when I found out how much Jim (Bentley, manager) wanted me to come here, it made me feel good and now I want to repay his faith by showing what I can do on the pitch.”

Bentley added: “Ben is a good player at a good age and has decent experience in the game. He’s technically very good, mobile and likes to run with the ball and I’m sure he will excite our fans.

“I nearly took him on loan from Portsmouth to Morecambe a few seasons ago and I’ve watched his progress since, so I am pleased he’s on board at AFC Fylde.”

The Coasters will start their pre-season programme away to a Wigan Athletic Under-23s side on Tuesday September 8, with a 1pm kick-off.

They then visit Warrington Town of the Northern Premier League premier division on Saturday the 12th (3pm).

Fylde will then be closer to home for a match against Blackpool side Squires Gate of the North West Counties League on Tuesday 15 (7pm).

The first home friendly will be against another NWCL premier division club, Longridge Town, on Saturday 19 (3pm).

The venue and kick-off time is yet to be confirmed for the match against a Salford City B team on Tuesday 22.

And finally Fylde will be at home on Saturday 26 to Altrincham (3pm), who have replaced the Coasters in the National League following their play-off success at the start of the month.

Fylde chief executive Jonty Castle told the club website: “We’re really pleased to have finalised the schedule and we feel this will give us the necessary preparations ahead of next season.

“Everything has been planned alongside Jim (Bentley, manager) and his coaching staff to ensure that we get the squad to be as competitive as possible ready for the new season.

“Usually, we would have played some showcase fixtures against EFL Championship opposition and/or higher at Mill Farm, which has always been exciting for our fans and a much-needed source of revenue for the club.

“However, the season will be under way in the EFL by the time we begin our matches, so this wasn’t possible this year.

“We’re in dialogue with our opposition about our fans being able to watch the games that are away from home and we can update supporters as and when we get this information. Unfortunately, as things stand there is no possibility of fans watching our home fixtures.”

The non-league season is working towards a provisional start date of October 3.