Blackpool Football Club and Blackpool FC Community Trust are proud to launch Tangerine Team-Mates, a new initiative that will connect the first-team squad with local grassroots sides in the area.
Strengthening the bonds with youth football clubs, Tangerine Team-Mates will see Blackpool players become affiliated to specific teams on the Fylde Coast.
Providing greater access to members of the squad, this is an ideal opportunity for budding young footballers to engage with and learn from the Seasiders’ professionals, whether that be via a virtual Q&A session, attendance at training, or with a good luck message of support ahead of matches.
Brett Gerrity, Blackpool FC Director, explained:
“Tangerine Team-Mates has been established to integrate the Blackpool FC first-team squad with 18 participating local youth football teams. The players will be partnered with the 18 clubs and will engage in person and online with local youth footballers of all abilities, aged between seven and 16, over the course of the season.
“It’s a wonderful opportunity for boys and girls to meet and learn from their footballing heroes at Blackpool, and for our players to give back to youth football, which is where many of them started out themselves. I hope that this initiative can put a smile on youngsters’ faces and bring a long-standing connection between our very special football club and those who enjoy playing the game we all love.
“I would also like to give a special mention to all of the youth team coaches and volunteers in the grassroots setup, without whom there would be no youth football clubs. Hopefully they will also enjoy and benefit from the input provided by our football professionals.”
Ashley Hackett, CEO of Blackpool FC Community Trust, added:
“We are really excited to bring this idea into practice and help coordinate all the requests. It was a great idea from Brett to use our first-team squad as mentors to local grassroots footballers. We hope they enjoy the experience and utilise the access to our players in the best possible way.”
Watch the draw here: https://twitter.com/BlackpoolFC/status/1493299010366582791
The draw to allocate which players were associated with which grassroots football clubs was conducted by Head Coach Neil Critchley and Academy Director Ciaran Donnelly.
Here are the results of the draw;
Chris Maxwell – St Annes FC
Daniel Grimshaw – Poulton Town FC
Stuart Moore/ Jordan Thorniley – BJFF
Jordan Gabriel – Layton Juniors FC
James Husband – FC Rangers FC
Gary Madine – South Shore FC
Callum Connolly – FY futsal FC
Marvin Ekpiteta – LSA YMCA FC
Oliver Casey – Staining Juniors FC
Richard Keogh – West Coast Sports FC
Luke Garbutt – Spirit of Youth FC
Shayne Lavery – Poulton FC
Sonny Carey/Reece James – Blackpool FC Girls
Grant Ward/Matty Virtue – Foxhall FC
Ethan Robson/ Dujon Sterling – Fylde Coast Soccer FC
Kenny Dougall – Lytham Juniors FC
Jerry Yates – Wyre Juniors FC
CJ Hamilton – Blackpool Wren Rovers FC
Kevin Stewart – Kirkham Juniors FC
Keshi Anderson – Clifton Rangers FC
Josh Bowler – CN Sports FC
Owen Dale / Jake Beesley – Thornton Cleveleys FC
Both Blackpool FC and the Community Trust would like to thank everyone for how well this new initiative has been received with over 28,000 views on Twitter and many messages of support and excitement for this new project.
