Michael Appleton desperate to hear the referee's first whistle as Blackpool kick-off the season against Reading

The new man in charge undertakes his first competitive game as Blackpool boss, albeit in his second stint, with a home game against Reading.

A bumper crowd is expected at Bloomfield Road and Blackpool’s head coach can’t wait to “crack on” and begin what he hopes will be a successful season.

“I’ve had a taste of the atmosphere over the last couple of weekends with the Rangers and Everton games, which gave me a little bit of a feel of what you would like and what you would come to expect over the last couple of seasons,” Appleton said, speaking on Friday morning.

“I’m really excited, I can’t wait. I wish it was today so we could all crack on and get on with it.

“Once that first game is done and out of the way, there’s a realisation then that this is the business part of the game.”

The Seasiders take on a Reading side led by former Pool boss Paul Ince, who managed to steer the Royals to safety during an interim spell last season.

Now in the managerial hotseat on a permanent basis, Ince will be aiming to steer his side away from the bottom end of the table after finishing in 21st last term.

“Once Paul went into Reading they’ve sured up things from a defensive point of view because of the amount of goals they leaked in the early part of the season,” Appleton added.

“They look like they’ve changed a little bit in terms of their style and formation and settled on a certain system, so I think they will be very hard to beat, they will make it difficult and get into a block really early and try and stifle us and force us to play in front of them, so we’ve got to make sure we don’t get lured into those traps.”

Richard Keogh is an injury doubt with a groin issue, while Jordan Gabriel, James Husband (both hamstring), Kevin Stewart and Jake Beesley (both stress fractures of the foot) will all miss out.