Sky Bet Championship: New Blackpool boss Lee Clark confident of survival

Blackpool boss Lee Clark sees no reason why his new club cannot eventually make it back to the Premier League, despite the fact they are already seven points adrift of safety in the Sky Bet Championship.

On Thursday the Seasiders announced that Clark would take the reins at Bloomfield Road just 10 days after fellow Sky Bet Championship strugglers Birmingham parted company with him following two seasons at St Andrew's.

His brief hiatus from the game was swiftly ended by the only club below Blues in the table, as Blackpool chairman Karl Oyston opted to bring Clark on board after the inevitable sacking of embattled boss Jose Riga on Monday.

The task facing Clark, who is the Seasiders' fourth manager of this calendar year, appears gargantuan, with the Fylde coast club having won just once all season and only four times in the past 11 months.

Yet the 42-year-old has set his sights much higher than just safety this term after recalling Blackpool's one season in the Barclays Premier League in 2010-11.

Speaking to TangerineTV, Clark said: "I'm just pleased to be back in the game and back in a management position in the Championship with a club that not too long ago was living the dream in the Premier League.

"Can we bring those good times back to the club? That has to be started with the club stabilising and staying in the Championship and then we can push on from there again. Why not? The club's done it in the past - why can't it do it in the future?"

In the short term, there is no escaping the fact Blackpool desperately need points if they are to avoid a fate which almost befell Clark's Birmingham last term.

On a dramatic final day of the season at Bolton last May, Paul Caddis' strike three minutes into stoppage time kept Blues up on goal difference at the expense of Doncaster.

Clark may have to rely on similar heroics to get Blackpool out of their current rut, yet it is a prospect which he is not daunted by.

"It is a big challenge because of our position in the league but it's a challenge which can be overcome," he said.

"If we achieve what we're setting out to achieve - which is staying in the league - it will be a tremendous feat by the whole group, but I'm very confident with the players I've got here in going forward that we can achieve those goals."

Former Huddersfield boss Clark also insists the thought of taking a lengthy break away from football after his time at Birmingham never came into his mind.

He added: "I love the game. The longest I've been out was my time between Huddersfield and Birmingham, which was three-and-a-half, four months.

"It's what I know, what I love, I enjoy this job and I'm determined to give everything I can by working night and day to help us achieve our primary goal and our short-term objective which is to stay in the Championship."