Neil Critchley comments on Blackpool’s future vision

Blackpool boss Neil Critchley has told LancsLive that the club have made youth development one of their main priorities moving forwards. 

The Seasiders’ under-18 side are due to face Chelsea at Stamford Bridge in the FA Youth Cup on Thursday night as the academy continues to go from strength to strength at Bloomfield Road.

Blackpool are now keen to see as many graduates as possible going on to become first team regulars and it is a vision that former Liverpool youth coach Critchley is fully committed to.

Speaking about the vision for the future, the Seasiders’ boss was quick to state the following:

“That’s something that we want to try and create at the football club, I’ve seen first hand what it can look like and feel like.

“There has to be that connection between academy and first team, having opportunities at the end is always crucial to any academy.”

Critchley went on to state that academy status matters little if the people working with the players don’t have their best interests at heart.

Blackpool are the only category three club left in the FA Youth Cup at this late stage of the competition.

The Verdict 

This is good to see as it sets a good example for other clubs that are at the same level as Blackpool in terms of financial strength.

The more first team ready players that are developed by the club itself, the less big money signings are needed to be sought.

In addition to this loan signings from Premier League clubs could potentially be a thing of the past as they arguably restrict the amount of game time that homegrown players get.

There is a fine balance to be struck between running a successful academy and keeping the first team at a level of quality that gives them the best chance of achieving something in