James Husband: Contract talks on hold at Blackpool

The defender’s current deal is due to expire at the end of the season, although the club holds an option to extend it by 12 months.

While Husband is keen to remain with the Seasiders, his focus is on the play-off ties with Oxford United.

On the prospect of extending his stay, Husband told The Gazette: “There’s been a little bit of talk about it but, first and foremost, we have two games to sort out first before any of those talks start properly.

“Look, football is football. There will be rumours that people speak but the talk is done out there on the pitch, so hopefully something can get sorted but we’ll see what happens.”

The 27-year-old has made 65 appearances for the Seasiders in his two seasons with the club, having made the move to Bloomfield Road in July 2019.

Husband initially moved to Blackpool on loan from Norwich City before making the move permanent in January 2020.

“I’ve loved my time here. I’ve grown as a player and a person,” the left-back said.

“I’ve been lucky enough that the staff have allowed me to take more of a leadership role this season and I’ve enjoyed it.

“With Chris Maxwell rested against Bristol Rovers on Sunday, I wore the captain’s armband and it was an honour for me as it always is. I’m proud that I’m able to do that.

“It was pretty much a perfect way to end the season, keeping a clean sheet, picking up three points and we finished the season in third.

“They’re the facts and we’ve done what we needed to do.

“It was a slight gamble (making so many changes), but the manager and his staff have complete confidence in every member of the squad.

“I thought the boys were tremendous on Sunday, especially the boys who haven’t played for a while. I couldn’t be more proud of the team.

“This goes a long way for the future to be quite honest, because some of those boys could have got their heads down and just not tried their best, but I thought their attitude was spot-on.”

The contracts of Alex Fojticek, Stuart Moore, Jack Sims, Ollie Turton, Luke Garbutt, Cameron Antwi, Ben Garrity, Nathan Shaw, Grant Ward, Liam Feeney, Sullay Kaikai, Brad Holmes, Adi Yussuf and Gary Madine also expire this summer.

As is the situation with Husband, the Seasiders hold the option to extend the deals of Fojticek, Antwi, Garrity, Ward, Shaw, Kaikai, Holmes and Yussuf.

Head coach Neil Critchley recently told The Gazette that it is difficult to put plans in place for the summer with so much still up in the air right now.

He did admit, however, that changes are inevitable this summer with so many players out of contract, although he did stress the importance of keeping together the spine of the current group.

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