Blackpool boss makes leadership point ahead of crucial run of fixtures against likes of Wigan Athletic and Doncaster Rovers
Blackpool take on Wigan Athletic at Bloomfield Road this weekend.
Ian Evatt has called for more consistency in terms of leadership within the Blackpool squad.
The Seasiders have a number of important fixtures coming up in the battle at the bottom end of the League One table in the next fortnight.
After welcoming Wigan Athletic to Bloomfield Road on Saturday afternoon, the Fylde Coast outfit are on the road away to both AFC Wimbledon and Doncaster Rovers, as they look to pull themselves away from the relegation zone.
Blackpool head into this weekend’s game on the back of a couple of tough results throughout February.
After losing 4-0 at home to Plymouth Argyle, Evatt’s side were able to stabilise themselves again with a 1-0 victory over Mansfield Town and a 2-2 against Bolton Wanderers.
A second collapse away to Lincoln City in their last outing saw familiar problems resurface again, with the Seasiders suffering another 4-0 defeat.
Blackpool boss shares thoughts on leadership ahead of Wigan Athletic game
Evatt states he needs his experienced players to step up and put in action some of the recent conversations that have taken place.
“What we need is transformative leadership and not transactional leadership,” he said.
“What I mean by that is, too often it’s too easy to be a leader when the score is going well and everything’s going well - that’s what I call transactional leadership.
“Transformative leadership is when you’re the same all of the time regardless of the scoreline. We need more of that, and it’s a conversation we’ve had behind-the-scenes.”
Evatt believes while Saturday’s trip to Lincoln finished with the same scoreline as the defeat to Plymouth; it wasn’t the same story.
“I would argue Saturday was different, the result was the same but it was different,” he added.
“Against Plymouth we didn’t perform at all for the whole game, but on Saturday I didn’t feel that was the case.
“I felt like we were more than in the game against a team that is miles clear in the automatic spots. I thought we were extremely competitive.
“In the second half, I felt the goal was coming until Fraser’s (Horsfall) mistakes, which was out of the blue. That can happen in football.
“Post that mistake is the real issue. Maybe it gave everyone a false reflection of what the game actually looked like. It creates an issue where that game is perceived to be completely different than what it was.
“We have to do better at resetting and not being affected by the scoreline so much. The only score that counts is the one on the final whistle, and the players have to view it that way.”
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