Kyle Bartley

Central Defender - Blackpool
8 Dec 2026
Tuesday
Process

Marked for Kyle Bartley

16 Edition

The Blackpool Sentinel

16 Nov 2026
From our football correspondent Crisis

Player ratings

Kaïl Boudache runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 23. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

Squad

A falling-out at Blackpool

Leighton Clarkson and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Match

A bad afternoon for Blackpool against Stockport County

0‑1 to Stockport County, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.

Squad

A row about effort at Blackpool

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Antonee Burke-Gilroy was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

The dugout

No hiding place for Josh Bowler

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Josh Bowler, and the manager let it.

The dugout

Alexander Spencer: “No excuses”

“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑1, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.

Squad

Luis Alberto Márquez is a square peg at Blackpool

The system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.

The dugout

The form table has caught Josh Bowler

Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.

Squad

A ban for Kyle Bartley

One booking too many, and a game watched from the stand. Blackpool lose him for the most avoidable reason in the sport.

In brief

Back issues
13 Edition

The Blackpool Sentinel

26 Oct 2026
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

A row about effort at Blackpool

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Leighton Clarkson was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Squad

Tempers go at Blackpool

Kaïl Boudache was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.

Squad

Too much change too quickly at Blackpool

13 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.

Player ratings

Leighton Clarkson takes the honours

Marked 7.72 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Blackpool had the best player on the pitch.

The dugout

Somebody else is better right now than Salko Hamzić

The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.

The dugout

The manager’s verdict

“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Alexander Spencer was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Blackpool dressing room was either.

Player ratings

Nothing got past Kyle Bartley

14 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.

The dugout

No hiding place for Tom Bloxham

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Tom Bloxham, and the manager let it.

Match

No goals between Blackpool and Bolton Wanderers

Ninety minutes, two goalkeepers with clean gloves, and not one finish worth keeping. Bolton Wanderers will be the happier side with the point.

In brief

2 Edition

The Blackpool Sentinel

10 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Market

Blackpool say no — this time

The offer from Port Vale for Kylian Kouassi was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.

Squad

Leighton Clarkson signs a new deal

“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Leighton Clarkson commits to Blackpool for another 4 years.

Squad

Leighton Clarkson in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Blackpool this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Transfer targets

No deal for Curtis Tilt at that price

Blackpool offered $110.0K; Bradford City said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.

Squad

Blackpool count the cost of losing George Elder

24 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.

Boardroom

Blackpool beat the market to Lenni Cirino from Gillingham

Gillingham will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Lenni Cirino has pre-agreed a move to Blackpool, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.

Market

Nathan Dixon steps up from the Blackpool academy

There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Nathan Dixon has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.

Market

Liam Roberts steps up from the Blackpool academy

There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Liam Roberts has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.

Market

Charles Clark steps up from the Blackpool academy

There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Charles Clark has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.

In brief