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Who Could Win Blackpool's Player Of The Season Award?




With the season drawing to a close, attention will soon turn to Blackpool's end of season awards, with a focus on who will win the 'Player of the Season' award.


There have been a few standout players throughout the season, but only two or three have performed consistently throughout the season.


We take a look at the frontrunners for this award and analyse who is more likely to come out on top.



Jordan Rhodes

One of the obvious frontrunners for the Player of the Season award is the prolific loanee who has been Blackpool's main source of goals this season, Jordan Rhodes.


The Huddersfield striker joined Blackpool on loan for the season, and it did not take him long to become the focal point of Blackpool's attack.


Everything he touched turned to goals, including some extremely fortunate flick ons that somehow found their way into the back of the net.


Rhodes has been sensational for Blackpool. Despite not being a huge part of the link-up play, his ability to get into good goalscoring positions, and convert chances, has led to him being the club's top scorer this season.


The striker has 15 goals so far this season, and it could have been more had he not suffered an injury in the past few months that, ultimately, ended his season at Blackpool.


Despite the injury, he is still in good stead to win the award. 15 goals is a good return for a striker, especially considering only 3 of those goals have come from the penalty spot.


Even when not scoring, he has been testing the opposition keeper. Out of his 74 shots this season, Rhodes has landed 31 of those on target.


But, as the saying goes, never fall in love with a loan player, and that could be one reason that Rhodes does not win this award. Speaking of loan players, that leads us to our next candidate.





Karamoko Dembele

There is no surprise that Karamoko Dembele is on this list, as he has been widely known as Blackpool's starboy throughout the entirety of the season.


Dembele has come a long way at Blackpool this season, from not being able to play a full 90 minutes due to fitness at the start of the season, to now being undroppable and being Blackpool's only flair player, possessing the ability to unlock any defence in the league.


Despite a stuttering start to the season, Dembele soon cemented himself as a fan favourite, with his quick feet, ability to beat a man, and eye for goal.


The winger, on loan from French side Brest, has been at the heart of everything going forward for Blackpool this season and has earned himself 7 goals and 11 assists.


Not everything Dembele has tried to do has come off this season. A chance to announce himself to the world came to him in the Blackpool FA Cup replay against Nottingham Forest live on Sky.


In the closing minutes of the game, Dembele raced through on goal, before rounding the keeper, but could not put his effort on target to win the game for the League One side.


The winger will not be easily replaceable next season, and there is little hope that Dembele will be returning for another stint in League One, with Championship clubs rumoured to be interested.


Whatever happens, Blackpool have helped to revitalise a stalling career, and Dembele will be hoping to reward them in their final two games, as he tries to force Blackpool into the top 6.


Like Rhodes, however, you should never fall in love with a loan player, and despite how good Dembele has been throughout the season, this may be the reason the star man does not win the award.





Daniel Grimshaw

The final player on the shortlist for Blackpool's Player of the Season award is goalkeeper Dan Grimshaw.


The former Man City goalkeeper joined Blackpool in the 2021 season and has since featured for his new club on 77 occasions.


During this time, he has established himself as Blackpool's first choice goalkeeper, forcing Chris Maxwell out of the starting 11, and keeping an experienced Richard O'Donnell out of the team this season.


Grimshaw has been exceptional on multiple occasions this season, with his ability to play out from the back, and his shot stopping ability.


He has single handedly earned Blackpool points in some games with the saves he has made, with the latest coming at home against Fleetwood, denying the away side what looked to be a certain equaliser with just a few minutes of the game remaining.


Grimshaw helped Blackpool keep five clean sheets in their first five league games of the season and has kept an impressive 18 clean sheets.


On top of this, Grimshaw has only conceded 42 goals in his 43 games, after facing 139 shots on target, giving him a 71.9% save percentage, conceding 0.98 goals per game.


Grimshaw has undoubtedly been one of the better players in the Blackpool squad this season, and they may find it difficult to keep hold of him going into next season should they remain in League One.




Blackpool have had a lot of consistent performers this season, such as Olly Casey, Matt Pennington, Albie Morgan and Jordan Gabriel, but none of them stand out more than the players listed above.


It will be interesting to see whether any of these players do win the award, and how they fare in the last two games of the season, but due to being a permanent player of the club, it would be hard to see anyone other than Dan Grimshaw winning it.

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