'The club is in a good place': How Michael Appleton's right-hand man rates Blackpool's chances

The Seasiders kick-off their campaign tomorrow with a home clash against Paul Ince’s Reading, a side they beat home and away last season.

It’s been a summer of change at Bloomfield Road, with Appleton replacing former incumbent Neil Critchley.

But despite the upheaval, the club’s assistant Kerslake believes the Seasiders can be confident of having another strong season.

“I’m really enjoying it,” he told The Gazette.

“The club is in a good place, the last couple of years they’ve been on the up with Critch so there’s a good spirit about the players and a good togetherness.

“Just the whole place when you go around the ground, it’s a good place to be right now.

“I’m sure the gaffer has already said there’s probably a dozen teams that expect to be in the play-offs. Out of those there’s probably six that demand promotion.

“There’s been quite a bit of money spent and I’m sure that will continue, but as long as we’re competitive and we stamp our brand of football that the gaffer would like then that’s what we’re looking for this year.”

The Seasiders stepped up their preparations over the summer with six friendlies in pre-season, winning three and losing three.

All three victories came against lower league opposition in Southport, Salford City and AFC Fylde, while their defeats came during the higher profile friendlies against Leeds United, Rangers and Everton.

“Pre-season has gone fine,” Kerslake said.

“Obviously we’ve faced top opposition. We will look to boss the ball if we can but obviously that’s been difficult because of the opposition we’ve played.

“But overall the players look fit, they look ready and we’ve built it so that there will be more and more competition for places.

“I’m just really looking forward to Saturday.

“The squad is getting there and we’ve been helped with the recent addition of Dominic Thompson.

“I’m not too sure of any more, that’s not my remit but we need competition for places, we need good players in the building.

“Right now we look okay, there is improvement and we will get better with the ball, but we will be ready for Saturday.”