Blackpool FC fans' meeting: Hierarchy discuss Michael Appleton's appointment, head coach search, injury record and new East Stand

Owner Simon Sadler was in attendance alongside chief executive Ben Mansford and fellow board member Brett Gerrity.

Head of finance Mark McGhee and Jonty Castle, chief revenue officer, also sat in on the meeting, which took place inside Bloomfield Road on Friday, March 3.

Among the topics of debate were Blackpool’s injury record, the appointment of Michael Appleton, search for a new head coach, the club’s overall strategy, communication and the new training ground and East Stand.

Here’s what was discussed:

Injuries

Mansford: Last year in the Championship, there were 34 incidents resulting in 1,540 days missed with an average of 45.25 days injured. This year, discounting the four injuries that happened away from the club, we’re on 21 injuries, 899 days missed and 42.81 days as the average. This year is probably going to be similar to last season. When Simon Sadler arrived there was one physio, we now have four, we never scanned players or had testing infrastructure, we didn’t have spin bikes and shockwave machines – these are all £100,000’s worth of cost. We have four sports scientists now, we will continue to invest, there’s now a gym at Squires Gate. Our injury record is not uncommon in the Championship this season, Watford had 15 out, Sheffield United 11 out, this season is unique because of the World Cup break – it’s not just us.

What is the process with medicals when signing players?

Mansford: We can’t talk about players’ medical history. However, Colby Bishop did some media work when he signed for Portsmouth and outlined he has an issue from when he was 16. We run a rigorous medical process, particularly when having to pay a significant fee for a player and offer a three-year deal. We made a decision, based on the information we had, that was right for the club given the finances involved.

Sadler: It’s different when bringing in a player on a free transfer on a 12-month contract, for example, than it is to pay a fee for somebody and put them on a three-year deal – there is a significant amount of risk that comes with that. From a financial perspective they’re completely different.

Club’s strategy and vision

Sadler: Neil Critchley got us promoted and we recruited well, then he left not long after signing a four-and-a-half-year contract. One thing I regret is we didn’t have a plan for him leaving, we didn’t see it coming. Critchley leaving set us back, Michael Appleton was the best of the bunch we interviewed. If we had realised the response to him was going to be quite as visceral as it was, I don’t think we would have hired him. There were other people on our list who we couldn’t see for various reasons. We need to get things back on track. Appleton was entrusted with Premier League loanees, he is a developer of kids, we relied on loans this time because they were the best that were available to us. The year we gained promotion we moved quickly. We thought the salary cap was coming and we were taking players when no-one else was taking players. Last season, our first in the Championship, there was a Covid hangover. There was less aggression from other clubs, so we managed to pick up good players on frees or relatively small transfer fees. This year, the market was tighter, we brought in Appleton fairly late in the window so we brought in loans to take stock and then build later – it’s a lot less of a risk to bring in a loan opposed to someone on a four-year deal. The loan market is viable, however, part of our strategy is to bring in players, develop them and move them on, so we didn’t do anywhere near as well this year as we have in the previous two years.

Was Michael Appleton appointed because Ben Mansford used to be his agent?

Sadler: Of course he wasn’t – it didn’t make any difference. Four of us made the decision – me, Ben Mansford, Brett Gerrity and John Stephenson. Michael was the best candidate for the job out of those we saw. I didn’t realise there would be as much of a backlash as there was, because there wasn’t that much of a backlash against Simon Grayson.

Search for new head coach

Sadler: That’s ongoing. To an extent it is division-dependent but not as much as you would think. Chris Badlan, our sporting director, is going through a list of targets. We intend to get back to where we were with Neil Critchley.

Financial change if relegated to League One

Sadler: We’re looking at £5m I have to invest if we’re in League One and £2.5m in the Championship. That’s all assuming no transfer fees. It’s difficult to forecast football finances over six years, so the group financial statement is a middle-ground. It assumes some time in League One, some time in the Championship and there’s an assumption we would be able to pay top eight League One wages and bottom four Championship wages.

Does the £40.8m investment on the two infrastructure projects hinge on Championship status?

Sadler: There are two projects, the East Stand and the training ground. When I first purchased the club, the amount I anticipated putting in for those was a lot lower, for various reasons. We’ve upscaled our intentions and building costs have gone ballistic. My initial priority was the training ground, partly because it was the one thing we all wanted, as well as it aligning the academy and first-team. Where we are now, £6.5 million from the £40 million Town Deal Fund from the government has been earmarked for the Revoe development. I’m putting £18m towards that project which will include rebuilding the East Stand, as well as putting in the pitches and car parking. It’s a meaningful improvement to the community, so the priority I think has now changed. The East Stand development is more important to the town than the training ground. The training ground is now forecast to cost £22m and we need to find a way to do it cheaper. These are long-term projects but we’ve already improved Squires Gate in the short-term with the gym, changing rooms and improved pitches to the cost of £452,000. The actual costs of running the club have gone up a lot. Additionally, the costs of running the club day-to-day have gone up a lot. For example, our electricity bill looks like it will more than double.

Where will away fans sit in the new East Stand?

Mansford: We’re having meetings with the architects and our Ground Safety Officer. The South East corner and some of the South looks to be the place for away fans. We have a duty to give 10 per cent to away teams and I can’t see other areas. We’ll set up working groups and conversations surrounding the construction. It will need a season or so to be reconstructed and we will have to move things around. We’re always in discussions with AFL architects who we are using, they worked on Brentford’s new stadium and are considered the best in class. A new stand will always have much better facilities, we will discuss with the police, supporters, highways and we will determine who that stand will house whether it’s home or away fans. We have to work out where the away fans go and we will find a consensus with all stakeholders.

Is there scope to increase capacity?

Sadler: The rough cost is £3,000 per seat. For every thousand seats it’s an extra £3m. I’d rather have a full stadium, rather than a stadium that’s too big and you have loads of empty seats. You go to some of these away grounds and they’re half full and they don’t have anywhere near the atmosphere we have here. I’m inclined to do it smaller rather than larger, but I may look to build it in such a way that we could increase capacity in the future should we wish.

Mansford: What a new stand does is increase our actual capacity but also our practical capacity because of where the away fans come in. If we have a new designed stand with new exits and turnstiles, it would open up around 1,500 seats under the hotel in the South East corner that we can’t always utilise at the moment.

Speculation Simon Sadler is looking to sell

Sadler: I’m not looking to sell the club.

Simon Sadler’s long-term investment

McGhee: For the year ending June 2022 we have achieved a small profit of £400,000. More significantly, to achieve that, we have required a £3.3m cash injection from our owner. Furthermore, as part of the Seaside group, we received £400,000 related to tax that we would not have got otherwise. This also outlines our player trading which shows that for every pound earned we have spent the equivalent. We have also outlined the total amount received as a club from our owner to the end of June 2023 – that sum stands at £25.57m. Over a ten year period that Simon Sadler owns this club, over current cashflow forecasts he will be required to inject another £25m of his own money. Under the current infrastructure development plan, we will require an additional £40.8m. This means over a 10-year period of owning the club, under current forecasts and plans, Simon Sadler would be required to put in £91.5m of his own money.

Disciplinary record

Mansford: We have internal debates on this. We don’t want to look like we lack discipline or standards, but maybe the players have got to be a bit more savvy at times. Simon Sadler has had to put a significant sum into the club for mass confrontation charges that we’ve had. Head of Referees Kevin Friend and the Head of Integrity from the FA met with the players and club recently to discuss issues. We’ve had three mass confrontation charges in just under two years and received a £25,000 charge, yet Sheffield United had three in three months and only got a £12,500 charge. We’ve questioned the fairness on this.

Club’s communication

Mansford: We’ve reflected on that. We all know how important results are and we like to let it be the head coach’s day and the player’s day when we win. When the bullets are flying, we have got to face up and communicate better, we have talked about that as a board. At the moment when it’s lively out there, you question whether what you say will get the right result and maybe we should’ve come out, even if it wasn’t good news or what people wanted to hear. We’ve reflected on that.

Gerrity: Honest mistakes may be made, we’re not going to get everything right and maybe we’ll do things differently as we move forward.

Sadler: A lot of it comes down to social media. I go out and about and I get comments of ‘thank you and ignore what you read’, Brett Gerrity gets the same on his visits into the community. Then you look on social media and it makes things out to be worse than they are. There’s a few very noisy people and we’ll just ignore them.

Ticket prices

Mansford: We will look to review everything, including ticket prices, as we do every year. It’s difficult to say today whether we could or couldn’t give incentives to those who travel away or reflect that in future season ticket prices. In terms of accepting reciprocal offers from other clubs for cheaper away tickets, that is something we will keep under review.

Sadler: We feel the season ticket prices in the Family Stand are competitively priced – U5s are free and U12s are £29. We also have club memberships that discount the prices further – if you’re a member and want a seat in the Family Stand, it’s £20 a ticket. If someone wants to go to two games a season, then they pay the full price of £30.