Following successive relegations from the Championship and then League One, former Premier League side Blackpool found themselves in the lowest tier of the English Football League since 2001.

A play-off victory at Wembley over Exeter City gave the beleaguered Tangerines fans something to smile about for the first time in many years, having experienced the ignominy of relegations and a torrid battle with the club’s controversial board in recent times.

Manager Gary Bowyer has managed to reverse the decay of the club by leading his side back to League One at the first time of asking, and the former Blackburn Rovers boss will spend this summer preparing his side for what will be a huge challenge at the higher level.

Bowyer will need to strengthen all areas to be sure of survival, and will be doing so on what is sure to be an extremely tight budget.

Goals will be key to survival, and bringing free agent Billy McKay to Bloomfield Road should be a priority for Bowyer in the coming weeks.

The striker began his career in England with Leicester City, but made his name north of the border, where he scored 54 goals in 121 appearances for Inverness which earned him a move to Wigan in 2015.

Things didn’t quite work out at the DW Stadium, and three subsequent loan spells saw the player rediscover his form in Scotland once again.

Now a free agent, the player is full of goals and looking for a new club, and at 28 years of age still has plenty to offer.

If Bowyer can be the man who transfers McKay’s Scottish goalscoring record to the English game, then Blackpool fans can forget about the drop next season and turn their sights further up the League One table.