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DJ Campbell's heroics helped the Tangerines reach the Premier League for the first time

Everyone associated with Blackpool holds their 2009/10 Championship play-off heroes closely, but DJ Campbell's burst towards the end of that season makes him a Tangerines icon.

Campbell rejoined Blackpool from Leicester City for a second loan spell at Bloomfield Road in the space of two seasons in January 2010.

He spent the second half of the 2008/09 campaign by the seaside too, scoring nine times in 20 games as he helped the side navigate a 16th-placed finish. Those nine goals saw him finish the whole season as Blackpool's top scorer.

A year later, though, Blackpool were in a completely different fight. Instead of needing Campbell's goals to help secure their place in the Championship, they would be relying on the then-28-year-old to give them a boost up into the top six in their unlikely bid for Premier League promotion.

He didn't disappoint and became one of the driving forces towards promotion.

DJ Campbell was key in Blackpool's race for the play-offs in 2010

Despite netting a goal in almost every other game at Blackpool during his brief stint there, Campbell still struggled to get into the Leicester team during the 2009/10 season, completely missing the opening 10 league games before he made brief substitute appearances in three of the following four.

He would spend two months on loan at Derby, scoring three times, before once again joining up with Blackpool from February until the end of the season.

Ian Holloway had the Tangerines in seventh upon Campbell's return. They were just a point behind Sheffield United in sixth, and were looking hopeful of having a crack at getting into the Premier League for the first time.

Campbell actually struggled in front of goal in the opening handful of games during his second loan spell. He scored just twice in ten games as the Seasiders dropped to ninth. But Blackpool were about to win six of the final eight games of that season, and Campbell was going to be a major player during that time.

The frontman missed three games, but scored twice off the bench in 12 minutes during his return as Blackpool beat Scunthorpe United, and followed it up with a goal on his first start back against Doncaster Rovers.

Another three goals followed in the final three games, including a brace against Nottingham Forest, which helped his side pip Swansea to sixth place and earn a spot in the play-offs to go against the same Forest side Blackpool beat 3-1 less than a month before.

DJ Campbell's play-off heroics

Blackpool's play-off semi-final against Nottingham Forest is well documented in being one of the greatest EFL play-off ties in history, and most of that is down to the drama that the second leg provided at The City Ground.

A Robert Earnshaw double had levelled things up on aggregate just past the hour mark at 3-3. Forest led 2-1 on the night, with Campbell scoring Blackpool's sole goal.

Ian Holloway's side would then score three times in the space of seven minutes. Stephen Dobbie would put the Tangerines back in front, before a three-minute double by Campbell not only secured a famous hat-trick, but it also all but confirmed a Wembley date for Blackpool, as they went on to win 6-4 on aggregate.

At Wembley, Blackpool won a five-goal thriller against Cardiff City, in which Campbell set up what went on to be the winner. The Seasiders were in the Premier League for the first time, and everyone associated with the club remembers Campbell and the rest of the team as heroes.

DJ Campbell's Premier League bow with Blackpool

Despite beginning the season back at Leicester, Blackpool would finally secure Campbell's services for an undisclosed fee during the 2010 summer deadline day, and the striker continued his fine form in front of goal in the top flight.

His 13 goals saw him finish joint sixth in the Premier League scoring charts, and the Tangerines looked to be good value during their first season back in the top flight, finding themselves in the top 10 with games in hand as 2011 began.

A disastrous second half of the season saw Holloway's side run out of gas and succumb to relegation, but nobody had even expected that season's minnows to have as much of an impact as they did.

Campbell remained in the Premier League after relegation following a £1.2 million switch to QPR, meaning he departed Bloomfield Road having scored an impressive 33 goals in 69 appearances.

He may not have been around for too long at Blackpool, but he will always be remembered there as one of the promotion winners of 2010.