Blackpool are enduring a torrid season in League One.

Blackpool CEO Julian Winter states there’s an awareness at the club over what would be required if they were relegated from League One - but aren’t currently preoccupied by the prospect.

The Seasiders have endured a torrid season in the third tier, and currently find themselves 19th in the table, having played a game more than the majority of the teams around them.

After heading into the campaign with optimism under Steve Bruce, the reality has been damning.

The former Birmingham City and Wigan Athletic boss was sacked in October, and replaced by club legend Ian Evatt - who has faced his own fair share of difficulties.

Blackpool have managed just one win in 2026 so far, and head into a midweek meeting with Mansfield Town on the back of a 4-0 defeat to Plymouth Argyle on Saturday afternoon.

Winter still believes Evatt’s side are capable of going on a run to get them out of trouble, but is prepared for every eventuality come the summer.

“There are things we will have to do, so we’re not naive,” he said last week.

“We don’t spend every day being preoccupied with what that looks like, but we’ve got an awareness of what will need to happen.

“It’s not a result that we want, but we’re not naive enough to think it’s impossible to happen.”

‘We’ve got to learn’

Winter believes it’s wrong to suggest the Seasiders have been heading in the wrong direction since their relegation from the Championship in 2023, despite a failure to finish in the top six during that time.

“In my first two years here, I think we’ve had a real opportunity to be in the play-offs on both occasions,” he stated.

“The club in essence had the ability to slightly overachieve with what it has and bring something together.

“We almost did it with Critch (Neil Critchley), and in the final game of the season at Reading away, when we’re 1-0 up thinking we’re in, and we lose 3-2 and we’re out.

“I think in both situations, we had a real opportunity to be in the play-offs and we all thought the same this summer.

“It’s been disappointing, we’ve all got to accept it’s been disappointing, but it’s not all bad, and people have to appreciate there’s a lot of good stuff going on at the club, and good stuff going on with the training ground work.

“We’ve got to learn from the three seasons we’ve had here, and make sure we have a really good go at it the year after.”

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Sporting Director reflects on Blackpool’s summer business

Blackpool’ Sporting Director David Downes states it would be wrong to completely write off the club’s summer transfer business, and believes misfortune has played a part in certain things not clicking.

“I think if we take ourselves back to the summer, everyone was really positive, we wanted to make that bit more of an investment to try and get us to a point where we’re competing higher up the division,” he stated.

“There’s been some incredibly strong teams in this league over the past couple of seasons. I don’t want to lose sight of where we were in the summer, with the money that was invested and the transfer fee that was invested.

“Obviously Dale Taylor was a considerable one for the football club. We could go with a list of 10 names of lads who have been injured, and ultimately when we’ve been able to put close to our starting 11 on the pitch with a solid bench behind it, over the course of December we saw a fair reflection of where we would be.

“The fact we’ve not been able to put partnerships together all over the pitch, has put a hell of a lot of speed bumps in our season.”

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