Former Fleetwood Town man has happy memories of Highbury stay

Few know the Fylde coast football scene better than the 40-year-old former midfielder, who spent two years as a Blackpool player at the start of the millennium, ended his playing career with AFC Blackpool and has run his successful academy for up-and-coming talents since 2008.

Milligan became manager of Bamber Bridge in the Northern Premier League last December but as a player he will always be associated primarily with Fleetwood.

He made more than 200 appearances over nine years at Highbury, many of them as club captain, and was involved in every promotion campaign from the North West Counties League right through to Town’s unforgettable rise into the Football League in 2012.

Blackpool-born Milligan was disappointed Fleetwood couldn’t add yet another promotion this month after qualifying for the League One play-offs for the second time, but he sees only good times ahead for his former club.

Now back in training with Brig ahead of a proposed September 19 start to their NPL campaign, Milligan recently spoke to The Gazette about “so many memorable seasons at Fleetwood”.

He recalled: “We won promotion on the last day quite a few times and there wasn’t a season when we had nothing to play for in the final weeks.

“The play-off final against Alfreton Town to go up from Conference North stands out (Lee Thorpe’s late winner in May 2010 sealed a 2-1 victory to send Fleetwood into non-league’s top division in front of more than 3,500 at Highbury).

“But going up to the Football League two years later as Conference champions has to be the highlight because we knew how much the chairman (Andy Pilley) wanted that.”

Town were propelled to glory that season by the emergence of Jamie Vardy, whose 31 goals in 36 league games earned a move to Leicester City and a glorious career at the top level.

Milligan recalled: “Jamie Vardy was the outstanding player from my time at Fleetwood. He was so quick and we knew he was good, though we never had any idea at the time how far he would go in the game. But he worked so hard and he definitely deserved it.

“But I also have to look at Pondy (Nathan Pond) as the ultimate team player.

“He was involved in every promotion and each time he stepped up to that new level. He was always the driving force behind Fleetwood Town.”

But now Milligan’s focus is on Bamber Bridge and returning to some sort of normality.

He added: “It’s been the longest close season in history, and to be honest, it was a nightmare.

“There was no work with the schools for my academy and it’s been really tough.

“We started again in June with some one-on-one coaching and it’s been rammed. We’ve been doing really long hours but it was good to get back to work.”

He’s also delighted to have returned to work with his Bamber Bridge squad over the past fortnight, saying: “The players have all come back and they all look in decent shape.

“We know there won’t be a lot of money, and there were players I could have signed during lockdown but didn’t have a budget.

“I think we probably could start in front of crowds because we get 200-300, so social distancing is possible, but at the biggest clubs it wouldn’t be.”