One by one we've seen an exodus from Bloomfield road usually saved for when the fourth officials board goes up! By the time that Jose Riga had left Bloomfield Road with 3 points on the last day of the season, few would have expected that nearly two dozen players would have followed him out of the door and the Belgian would then return as manager! The problem is Jose now needs to replace the departed which finally has started today.

Welcome to Blackpool FC Sergei Zenjov and for the moment let's hope you're good at 5-a-side. As the players returned to training today, they must have been playing 3 and you're in with no keepers to go in goal. By our reckoning at training would have been Steven Davies, Bobby Grant, Gary McKenzie, Tom Barkhuizen, David Perkins, Charles Dunne, Tony McMahon, Harrison McGahey, Mark Waddington and Connor Hunt (although there's no guarantees with the latter trio). So, in theory, we could now have passed the double figures mark and until Tom Ince goes we have practically got a team (with no keeper!).

The arrival of Zenjov today is an interesting start for Riga. The last two months seems to have been a cycle of has-beens, never will-be's, loans and journey men. At least Jose has looked further afield than Barnsley for his first appointment and whilst Sergei may not be a name that will set message boards alight, he will get fans talking. A 25 year old striker is a good age for a player and to have played at his country's highest level is a good indication of what's to come. With 23 goals over 139 appearances for FC Karpaty Lviv, he's maybe not as prolific as we'd hope but 7 goals in 32 for his country makes for much more interesting stats. He also had a decent season with his club last year scoring 9 goals in 27 games.

So the Riga Revolution has begun but he'll need many more men behind him before he can really go in to battle. We're still to hear about his backroom staff despite all the rumours and there's been little else in terms of who else will be joining us at Bloomfield Road. However, one player is a start, let's hope it doesn't take this long for another player to follow him.

Photo: Action Images

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