Blackpool confirm first pre-season friendly ahead of 2022/23 Championship campaign

The Seasiders will make the trip to Haig Avenue on Saturday, July 2, with the game kicking off at 3pm.

It’s the first pre-season friendly to be confirmed, with more to be announced in the coming days and weeks.

The now traditional trip to Merseyside will form part of Blackpool’s early preparations for the 2022/23 Championship campaign.

The friendly against the National League North side was arranged as part of the deal that took Doug Tharme to Bloomfield Road.

The Southport defender joined Neil Critchley’s side for an undisclosed fee in January, only to be loaned back to the Sandgrounders for the remainder of the season.

A commanding 6ft 4ins defender, Tharme has previously played for the likes of Telford, Curzon Ashton, Radcliffe Borough and Welsh sides Wrexham and Connah's Quay.

The 2022/23 Championship campaign gets underway early next season due to the winter World Cup in Qatar.

The opening weekend of the season comes on Saturday, July 30.

The Seasiders are also expected to travel for a training camp this summer, as confirmed by Critchley to The Gazette last month.

“We’ve all seen the problems with flying in recent weeks and issues at airports and so on, but it’s something we’ve spoken about,” he said.

“I actually had a meeting about it this morning, so we’re finalising those plans, opposition and where we’re hopefully going to travel to.

“I think it’s always beneficial to try and get away for a week or so to get the group together, because you can get a lot of quality work done in a week on and off the grass.

“It’s something we’re speaking about and hopefully we can finalise something soon.”

Blackpool were 2-0 winners against Southport last year, with goals coming from debutant Shayne Lavery and Demetri Mitchell.

The previous summer, Grant Ward, Sullay Kaikai, Keshi Anderson and Jerry Yates got on the scoresheet during a 4-0 win.

It was Blackpool’s first outing since the 2019/20 campaign was ended early due to the pandemic.