[2] José Riga, in his first season as manager, was in charge for fourteen League games, before being sacked on 27 October with the club five points adrift at the foot of the table.

Barry Ferguson, Blackpool's caretaker player-manager for the final twenty league games of the previous campaign, was not given the role full-time and left the club.

[3][4] Among the departees were Matt Gilks, the club's only remaining goalkeeper and player from their 2010–11 Premier League campaign, and Tom Ince, whose father, Paul, had been sacked as manager during the previous season.

[7] On 19 July Blackpool played their opening friendly at Penrith, winning 4–0 with a team of professionals, youth players and trialists.

In their home friendly against Burnley on 2 August, Blackpool again fielded a host of trialists both in their starting line-up and on the bench, as the visitors won 1–0.

A week later, in the first home league game of the new season, new signing Tomasz Cywka scored the club's first goal of the campaign in a 2–1 defeat to Blackburn.

On 13 September, Blackpool gained their first point in their sixth league game of the season, a goalless draw with Wolves at Bloomfield Road.

The former Birmingham manager lost his first game, 2–0 at home to Ipswich on 1 December, but secured his first point with a 2–2 draw at Fulham four days later.

Consecutive defeats to Norwich and Middlesbrough followed, before a 4–4 draw with Nottingham Forest on Valentine's Day, their first such result in 2,252 home league games.

Blackpool exited the League at the first-round stage after a single-goal defeat at Shrewsbury Town, managed by former Seasiders captain Micky Mellon, on 12 August.

On 4 January, Blackpool lost their FA Cup third round tie against Premier League club Aston Villa 1–0, with Christian Benteke scoring two minutes before the end of normal time.

Their contracted players at the start of pre-season were Tom Barkhuizen, Steven Davies, Charles Dunne, Bobby Grant, Gary MacKenzie, Tony McMahon and David Perkins.

[62] Fellow youth-team players Miles Boney, Luke Higham and Daniel Milton were unused substitutes for the first-team.