'I knew if I didn't take it': Blackpool legend reveals key factors behind Bolton Wanderers switch

It’s good to be back in football, especially alongside the manager (Ian Evatt), Matt Gilks and Stephen Crainey - it’s been like old times.

Andy Taylor is also here - he was at Fylde at the same time as me. There’s a lot of people I know, so it’s been a smooth transition into the role.

I’d only just started a new job with Red Bull before handing my notice in. It all happened very quickly.

I met up with Evo and we had a good conversation. I knew if I didn’t take it now, then I might not get another like it, and it would’ve been a decision I regretted for the rest of my life.

On day one, I knew I had made the right decision. I was a bit nervous going in; it was a bit like going into a new school. A nightmare for me is learning everyone’s name. It was hard enough when I was 20-odd, but now I’m 48.

I am a kit man, but I will also be on the training field, joining in and taking some shooting practice.

Hopefully I can give them a bit of luck to get promoted, as they got as far as they could last season without going up.

I think they’re getting more than a kit man. If I can play a small role in making the players better then I’ll be a very happy man.

I didn’t give the ball away when we did the two touch, I was as good as anyone. You might lose your speed, but you don’t lose your skill. I was breathing a bit heavy, so I couldn’t afford to keep going in the middle.

I’ve been doing a bit of everything, so I’ve been smiling like a Cheshire Cat. The lads know they can come to me any time and chat for whatever reason.

It’s frightening how young some of the players are, they’re basically the same age as my kids. Some of them didn’t know who I was until they Googled me.

One or two have come up to me saying their mates are big Blackpool fans and I was their hero - which is very humbling.

Dion Charles was a kid at Blackpool, and I know him from his time at Accrington Stanley, so I’ve had plenty of conversations with him.

I’d never really thought about coaching or anything like that until I went into Fylde with John Hills as a temporary manager back in 2019. I really enjoyed being involved in the day-to-day stuff again - I didn’t realise how much I missed it.

That didn’t materialise into anything after, so I’ve got my football fix through working for Radio Lancashire for the last eight years.

When you retire from playing, you fall off the edge of a cliff. I didn’t know what I wanted to do, so I did nothing for the first six months - and it was brilliant, but once a year or two passes it sends you doolally.

I had my off-field problems, so I was in a bad way, and at 40-years-old, I had to find a new path. I found that very difficult, but thankfully Radio Lancashire offered me something part-time.

Sometimes I don’t think you appreciate football until you go back in. Time goes so quick, so when this job in football, an opportunity to be around a squad again, I jumped at it.

In the real world you’ve got to grow up, but I can go back to being me again.