Bowyer: I'm ready to change Pool's losing mentality

The 44-year-old was introduced to staff and shown around Bloomfield Road yesterday after signing a one-year rolling contract at the club.

He came out on top of a six-strong list of potential managers, after impressing chairman Karl Oyston at the end of last week during an interview.

Bowyer has been out of work since being sacked by Blackburn in 2015, and says he is delighted to be back.

“I’m excited by the job, it’s something I’m really looking forward to,” he said.

“You look around the stadium at Bloomfield Road and I’ve been here when it’s been full and been buzzing.

“I’m really looking forward to getting started now and it’s great to be back in football.”

Bowyer takes charge of a club desperately struggling for confidence after two two relegations in as many years, which has seen them tumble from the Championship to League Two.

They will kick-off their first campaign in the Football League’s bottom tier in 15 years this August, and it’s the mental side of the club which the new man is so keen to get stuck into. He said: “The main thing to do here is to change the mentality and stop the run of back-to-back relegations.

“That starts on the training ground on the first day of pre-season.

“I need to work with the players and change their mentality to try to start to win football matches – that’s what we have to do now.”

The Blackpool job is Bowyer’s second in management although he previous enjoyed two spells in charge at Blackburn as caretaker boss in 2012 and 2013.

He was eventually granted the job full-time a year later, amid a backdrop of fan protests, financial restraints and difficult owners.

Something he feels may help him in his new challenge at Bloomfield Road.

“It was a magnificent learning curve for me,” he said on his lively spell at Ewood Park.

“The experiences I’ve had at Blackburn stand me in good stead.

“It was a great place to pit your first, full managerial career and there’s lots of lessons I’ve learnt positively and negatively from.

“I look forward to bringing them into the challenge here now.”