Fleetwood Town defender is happy to be back playing

Fleetwood Town's Sam Stubbs Picture: Fleetwood Town

The 21-year-old had been due to spend the second half of last season on loan at Dutch club ADO Den Haag after a similar spell at Hamilton Academical in the latter half of 2019.

However, after making eight appearances, the Eredivisie was cut short with nine games still remaining as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic with nine games still remaining .

It meant the former Middlesbrough man could only look on as clubs in other countries returned to action earlier this year.

One of those was Town with Stubbs jumping at the chance to make a permanent move to Highbury after a number of loan spells at clubs including Crewe Alexandra, AFC Fylde and Notts County.

“I’ve been straight back into it,” Stubbs said.

“It’s exciting and it’s brilliant, it’s something that I wanted this year.

“It was important for me to come back to England because I like that it’s full on, I like how it’s game after game.

“There’s potentially four competitions you’re playing in.

“That was something I was really looking forward to this year and I’ve been lucky enough to be in the team.

“I had three games in a week when I hadn’t had any for six months.

“My legs are good. I put the work in during that time I had off.

“I had two sports scientists at Middlesbrough who were brilliant with me in terms of giving me what I needed and keeping me fresh for the time that I would go out.”

Stubbs spoke glowingly of his first impressions of Fleetwood and Poolfoot Farm when he first joined the club – and those initial observations have only been enhanced.

The culture of the club and the players is very important to head coach Joey Barton and Stubbs has bought into that.

The Liverpudlian is hoping there is still much more to come though.

“My time here has only confirmed what I said when I first came in,” he said.

“There’s a real ethos of working hard and enjoying coming to work.

“It is a really positive place to be and you do sense that the moment you walk in.

“Everyone’s buzzing and everyone is happy to be in and working, and to get their work done. I’ve had a decent start but hopefully there is still a lot for me personally to work on and that will come.”