Michael Appleton delivers his verdict on Blackpool's 'difficult' summer transfer window

Eight players arrived in total, albeit Andy Lyons is one of them and won’t make the move until January.

A further 11 have departed, culminating on deadline day when star man Josh Bowler joined Nottingham Forest, only to be immediately loaned out to Olympiakos.

The Seasiders also missed out on a number of their top targets, but they remain active despite the window closing with free agents now on the agenda.

“The window has been a tough one for all sorts of reasons,” Appleton told The Gazette.

“Firstly, because of me coming in as late as I probably did and there was a gap between the previous manager and me coming in, so it was always going to be difficult.

“Every club I’ve been at over the last 10 years, the first window is always the most difficult one because there’s potentially been a change of style of play, opinions on players already in the building, opinions on potential signings going forward and so on.

“Moving forward, I think it will be a little bit easier. Sometimes if you get to the last day of the window and you feel you need to do too much business, it’s a little bit of a sign it’s not been a particularly great one.

“I was reasonably relaxed on deadline day. Obviously we knew there was a threat of Josh leaving but we did bring in young Ian (Poveda) a few days earlier who we feel could potentially fill that hole and that void for us.

“He’s someone who has the potential to do that. He’s been at two fantastic football clubs in Man City and Leeds and we will hopefully give him the platform to do that.”

While the transfer window closed on Thursday night, the Seasiders still have the ability to bring in unattached players.

“There is one (free agent) I’m certainly hoping to be in the group reasonably quickly,” Appleton told The Gazette.

“Then there’s another one I think will help us in terms of experience wise, being around the group and being a good character off the pitch as well as on the pitch.”