'Work hard for the Tangerine shirt:' Message sent out ahead of Blackpool's League One opener away to Crawley Town

The Seasiders get their League One campaign with a trip to the Broadfield Stadium to face newly-promoted Crawley Town on Saturday evening (K.O. 5.30pm). 

Rhodes is aware it won’t be smooth sailing throughout the whole campaign, but states the way Blackpool react to any hurdles will be crucial as they look to improve on last term’s eighth place finish. 

“The manager (Neil Critchley) has lots of good options all over the pitch, and competition for places,” the striker said. 

“There’s pretty much two people in every position who could step in, it’s just about doing yourself justice when you are given that time on the field, working hard for the Tangerine shirt. 

“Everyone’s just trying to work as hard as they can, and trying to implement some of the things that we do in training, getting in the best shape possible for Crawley. 

“There’ll be bumps throughout the course of the season, there’ll be good days and bad days - that’s just football. 

“That’s life in general, you have ups and downs, but when you do have the downs it’s just about recovering and being positive. Every day is a learning day. 

“There’ll be bad results, but it’s just about how you bounce back. You can’t get too high with the wins and too low with the losses.”

Rhodes has enjoyed a full pre-season with the Seasiders this summer, after making the permanent move from Huddersfield Town as a free agent following a successful loan spell on the Fylde Coast.

Despite only arriving a few games into the 2023/24 campaign, he quickly found his feet, bagging 15 league goals before Christmas.

“Sometimes in football you can’t plan certain things, if you're a free agent or you’re out of contract then you have to train on your own, and you can sometimes end up moving late in the window - like I did last year,” he added.

“Football throws these scenarios at you, and you’ve just got to deal with it. 

“Everyone in the dressing room are good professionals and will go about it in their own way. After a good few years in the game, I know some things that work for me and some things that don’t, even in the off-season when you’ve got time away from training, you’re still working on bits and bobs to build fitness in different ways.

“I’ve really enjoyed pre-season this year, it’s been good to be back with the team, I think everyone has enjoyed each other’s company.”