Stephen Dobbie predicts big summer rebuild after Blackpool's relegation to League One

Matters have improved under Dobbie since he came in as the interim boss for the final six games of the campaign, the 40-year-old providing a slimmer of hope when they looked all but doomed.

Unfortunately it proved to be too little, too late though with Dobbie not given enough time to steer the ship around.

In many ways, Friday night’s 3-2 defeat to Millwall - the result that confirmed Blackpool’s relegation – summed up the season as a whole, with no shortage of effort on show but once again the Seasiders came up short.

When asked if this was a view he concurred with, Dobbie told The Gazette: “I think so. Obviously hindsight is a great thing, if you had 10 games or 12 games, who knows? But at the end of the day we’re down so it’s going to be a big rebuild over the summer.

“It’s like anything, if we had another two games at the end could we have continued to go?

“The boys are hurting, everybody is hurting, myself included. Blinks (Matt Blinkhorn), Banksy (Steve Banks) and all the staff have been fantastic since I’ve come in and they’re hurting the same as everyone else.

“We’ll lick our wounds over the weekend and then when we come in over the weekend we’ll make sure we’re still planning and doing the right things for Norwich on the final day.”

Under Dobbie the Seasiders certainly can’t be accused of not having a go, which is something they were guilty of under the previous two managers.

Even in the three games they lost to promotion-chasing Luton Town, West Brom and most recently Millwall, Blackpool caused all three sides problems before eventually succumbing to defeat.

Because of that, Dobbie has nothing but praise for the squad of players he inherited just over three weeks ago.

“That’s what I said to the lads when I first came in, can we take it to the second or last day and still be in with a shout? Before that it looked dead and buried,” he said.

“Full credit to the boys in the dressing room, they’ve given everything since I’ve been in.”