Former Premier League defender forever grateful to Blackpool after being given chance as a youngster

Clarke Carlisle believes he owes Blackpool a lot after they gave him a chance to kick-start his career in football. The Seasiders took a chance on the former defender as a youngster.

He went on to make 106 appearances for the Tangerines after making his debut back in 1997 against Wrexham in the old Second Division. The Preston-born man also chipped in with six goals from the back.

Carlisle, who retired in 2013, has hailed the importance that Blackpool as a club had on his early life as a professional footballer and has said: “Blackpool, as a club, was instrumental in providing me with a career in football. I have to acknowledge that I was released by Blackburn at 14 and when you’re told you’re not good enough at that age it has a powerful impact on you.

“When Fred O’Donoghue came knocking on the door and brought me to the club, I was very fortunate as a defender to experience the coaching and input from the likes of “Ginge”, Mike Davis, and to benefit from players like Dave Linegan and Tony Butler, because in my formative years, teaching me about consequential football, they were absolutely brilliant.

“As a club, I’m forever indebted because they gave me the opportunity to get my foot on the first rung of the ladder. It wasn’t just the coaches, it’s also the guys who are round and about like Jimmy Armfield, who kept popping in and offering little insights. I’m indebted to Blackpool, not just for giving me the opportunity to play professional football, but also for teaching me how to do it consequentially.”

Blackpool were relegated in Carlisle’s final season at the helm. However, his mature performances alerted the attention of other clubs and it was eventually QPR who managed to lure him away in 2000.

He added: “I have some outstanding memories (at Blackpool). I was there from 16 to 20. I’d just left home and I was encountering social life for the first time in Blackpool with that group of people. I had some wonderful times on and off the pitch with the likes of John Hills, Lee Thorpe, who supported me in my professional development, but we also had a fantastic social life together as well.

“Those ages are pivotal for establishing who you’re going to be as an adult and there was a togetherness at Blackpool, which, at that time, defied what was a football club norm. In that era everything was ‘A’ team, ‘B’ team, and then if you earned your corn you progressed to the reserves and the first team.

“All those groups were very different, but it wasn’t like that at Blackpool and Squires Gate, we were all together, so you’d have apprentices training with the first team every single day, so it was a fantastic example of imitative and observational learning, being able to see and learn from these guys up close and personal. I learned from what they did both on and off the pitch.”

After leaving the Seasiders, Carlisle spent four years at QPR before ending up at Watford via Leeds United. It was with the Hornets where he landed his first promotion to the top flight in 2006.

The ex-England youth international then went on to have stints at Luton Town, Burnley, Preston North End, York City and finally Northampton Town before calling time on his playing days. He played a total of 541 games by the end and has since done work with the PFA and with the media.