'I was desperate not to join the year before:' Ex-Blackpool figure documents how 'unbelievable' group was formed after his disappointing Rotherham United exit

The 41-year-old joined the Seasiders from Rotherham United in 2006, and went on to make 149 appearances in Tangerine, including the 2007 League One play-off final victory over Yeovil at Wembley.

Barker admits when he first trained at Squires Gate he wasn’t intending on joining the club, but soon realised it was a good fit.

"I didn’t want to leave Rotherham- Alan Knill who had been my manager in the U18s had been promoted to first team manager,” he said.

“A couple of guys had taken over the club and had really messed it up, and if they didn’t offer me more money, I was able to leave on a free. They were just trying to cut things short, they were awkward and quite disrespectful towards me. They made my life pretty much hell, feeding garbage to the local press.

"Everyone was saying I wasn’t signing because I wanted huge amounts of money, which wasn’t true. They said I refused to turn up to training for pre-season, which was a complete lie. They made me out to be a bad guy, but all I was trying to do was get a half decent contract because when you come through the academy you’re at the bottom of that list- this was my first chance to negotiate.

"Simon Grayson reached out to me and he invited me to train with Blackpool. He didn’t put pressure on me to sign, because that wasn’t guaranteed, but he just sort of tempted me to come to the club to keep me fit. Eventually something was agreed and I signed two days before the first game of the season.

"I was desperate not to sign the year before when we turned up to Bloomfield Road when they had been really poor. There were the two stands and the wind was horrendous, and they were chucking sand on the pitch to keep it going until the end of the season.

"I wasn’t overly positive about the fact they were interested, but when I met Simon Grayson I liked him, and you could tell something was brewing. Sometimes you know when the fit is right, and everything felt like it was moving in the right direction.

"As soon as I joined Blackpool, we saw the likes of Ian Evatt, Claus Jørgensen, Andy Morrell, Wes Hoolahan, David Fox- it was just an unbelievable group of lads that all bonded really quickly.

"Simon Grayson’s strength was to get the right players to join the club to take it to new heights.”