Championship 1 Preview: Blackpool Panthers

A 5th place finish last year represents the Panthers’ best ever return from a season.

2009 was also the year that Martin Crompton’s men picked up their first piece of silverware as a club, winning the Northern Rail 9s and giving everybody at the Woodlands Memorial Ground a great morale boost.

The campaign ultimately ended in disappointment though, with the side crashing out of the play-offs at the first hurdle. Since then, Martin Crompton, with the help of new chairman Bobby Hope, has brought in players of proven quality, as the Panthers aim to launch a serious challenge for silverware this time around.

Tom Hemingway, Andy Hobson and Paul Ballard all have experience of playing at a higher level and these are the players that Crompton will be depending on to lead the club’s promotion charge.

Prediction: 4th
Key Man: Tom Hemingway