Brett Ormerod full of praise for Terry McPhillips' Blackpool

Owen Oyston has continued to cling on as owner despite still owing more than £25m to embittered former director Valeri Belokon. A further court hearing is scheduled for next Wednesday.

Before then, Blackpool return to action at home to struggling AFC Wimbledon on Saturday, when a win would put them right back in the mix in League One.

Pool have lost only one of their opening 11 league games and club great Ormerod, who made more than 200 appearances in two spells with the Seasiders, says you can’t fail to be impressed by McPhillips and his squad’s ability to get results despite ongoing uncertainty.

He told The Gazette: “The manager, the players and all the staff are trying to affect the only thing they can affect. They are getting on with it, being very professional and putting all the outside things they can’t control to one side.

“Full credit to them all. At the end of the day, the manager just wants to manage the team and the players just want to play football.

“All the other stuff is out of their control and is not their fault, so it’s nice to see they are doing well with the football side of things, despite all the constant other stuff.

“There are people who want to come and watch, and as a professional player you go out and do your job.

“Obviously everyone would like the situation to be different with the crowd. I’ve played at Bloomfield Road when we didn’t get that many. I’ve also played at Bloomfield when it’s been a packed house in a new stadium and it was a fantastic atmosphere.

“But the fans aren’t staying away without good reason. They are all passionate Tangerine fans and I’m sure they all want to get back inside that stadium as soon as possible, but unless certain things are resolved it doesn’t look like it’s going to be anytime soon.”