Matt Gilks believes Blackpool could have survived if they had not only dipped a toe in the Premier League water.
Goalkeeper disappointed to be relegated by just one point
Matt Gilks believes that Blackpool could have survived in the Premier League if they had not only dipped a toe in the water.
Defeat to champions Manchester United on Survival Sunday relegated the Bloomfield Road club back to the Championship just 12 months after last season's play-off final win.
Blackpool went down with just one point less than survivors Wolves, although Ian Holloway's side also had an inferior goal difference, and Gilks is frustrated as a result.
The goalkeeper thinks that if Blackpool had a bigger budget they would have been able to give a better account of themselves in the Premier League.
He told
Sky Sports News: "The biggest disappointment from a personal point of view is that I don't think we really had a go at it.
"There are certain restrictions at Blackpool with facilities and staffing-wise and I just think we dipped our toe in the water and maybe if we had put our foot in and had half a go at it we could have stayed up.
Ifs and buts
"It's a bit disappointing to just go down by a point. We could have picked another four up somewhere along the line with a little bit more help, I personally feel.
"But it's all ifs and buts at this stage."
He continued: "We don't have anything at the club. We wanted a kit man at the start of the year, which got rejected.
"We wanted a sports scientist and strength and conditioning coach to come in. We got one part-time and we messed him about a bit and that didn't come to fruition either."
Blackpool's stars, such as Charlie Adam, Gary Taylor-Fletcher and David Vaughan are likely to leave this summer, but Gilks hopes that the future is bright.
He said: "Ian Holloway will now probably build a new team. He will get the right characters that he wants and hopefully we will go onwards and upwards."
