Nathan Delfouneso reflects his time with Blackpool, and discusses his time coaching with Fylde so far.
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00:00So, Nathan, back at Bloomfield Road, back on the score sheet, how much did you enjoy that?
00:05Yeah, it was good. It was a nice little run out.
00:09Last one, kick the ball by in the game situation again, so I put it in that for a really good cause.
00:13The place which is close, close to me especially, so yeah, I really enjoyed it.
00:18Yeah, obviously the cause, everyone's come back and raised money.
00:21So yeah, how special is it to see all the fans turn out and all the ex-players to turn out as well?
00:26Yeah, I think just the fact that I got the whole group together from various different stages, different generations, different years,
00:32so I thought it was really good for everyone to be involved in that.
00:35And great for the support, which came out as well. I mean, it was a great day for it as well, which was really good.
00:40But no, I like the cause, and obviously raised a bit of money as well, which has been really good. So, positive all around.
00:46How much does this club mean to you? You came back often enough to who you could play in Korea?
00:50Massive, massive. I think there's nothing, I think I probably said on numerous occasions how much this club does mean to me, to be fair.
00:56It's something that's close to me. I've put a lot of my energy, soul, body and all that sort of stuff into this club.
01:05And it's given me a lot of that, especially from the support of the people I've played with, my teammates that I've played with,
01:09and various people as well. So that's something which I'm really grateful for, for my time here.
01:14And hopefully, I'm always one of them ones where I look out, see what I do week in, week out.
01:20And I always back them from wherever I am.
01:23I suppose you grew as a person, and obviously you came here as a youngster for someone, and you kept coming back as you're older and older.
01:29Yeah, I mean, it must be something about their place, but I just kept coming back.
01:33But no, it's an easy one to go to because it's a club which I'm close to.
01:38I still feel a connection to wherever I'm close by or see anything on TV.
01:42Like I said, I always look and see what I'm doing.
01:45And it's a club which I'm always back from, like I said, wherever I am.
01:48But yeah, like I said, it's a club that's close to my heart.
01:51You saw it in various different stages of, obviously, the high times, the low times.
01:55You saw it, like, go up and down throughout the years.
01:58Yeah, I mean, there's been some good times, there's been some low times,
02:02and then we stopped around for some more good times and then a bit of low times.
02:05So I think that's the standard for a footballing journey, for a footballer and a club and so forth.
02:11Nothing's going to be completely smooth sailing and all that sort of stuff as well.
02:15So it's great seeing everyone back from where it was before.
02:20I don't know where it was like from when I first came here,
02:22and I've seen what it's like when in the middle times I was here,
02:24and then to go and see how the club is now.
02:26And hopefully they're in a great position.
02:28And even seeing that standard on the other side is starting to get done up a little bit as well.
02:32So it's great to see that there's a lot being put into it.
02:35I've been talking about the training ground as well.
02:37So it's great seeing the club one steps in the right direction.
02:40And yeah, it's great to see.
02:43And just on yourself, obviously you're coaching now, you're at Fylde.
02:46So how's that going for you?
02:47Yeah, first it's been good.
02:49So shout out to the academy, which has been really good.
02:51It's been a successful year for the academy.
02:53I'm not quite done with it yet.
02:55I'm still feeling to achieve, so hopefully I can achieve that as well.
02:58But no, it's been a successful year.
03:00I mean, a lot of personal growth for me as well.
03:02A lot of experience and exposure which I had,
03:04especially when I had that little exposure with the first team as well, which I fully enjoyed.
03:08So for my personal, it's been great from an academy note in terms of the youth team and the juniors and everything.
03:16It's been a very good year all around for the club.
03:18And hopefully we'll have to go and level it up and then step it up again next year.
03:21Was it always going to be coaching for you after you finished playing?
03:24I've balanced with no, but it's something which grew on me and I love doing.
03:29It keeps me in the game.
03:30It keeps my head really, really active.
03:32It keeps my body active and everything as well.
03:35So I'm looking forward to what the future holds.
03:37Add to that taste of obviously taking charge of the first team for a period.
03:40Is that where you see yourself going in your career, first team football?
03:44Possibly.
03:46The game evolves a lot.
03:49It's something which I definitely enjoy.
03:52It's definitely going to see myself doing, given the opportunity to.
03:56But obviously it's the opportunity that presents itself and it's got a fit right for obviously myself and the club,
04:02which whatever that may be.
04:05But I've been really grateful for the opportunity that I've been given.
04:08Like I said, I've been given a lot of exposure.
04:11I've learned a lot this year.
04:13I've learned a lot from many people.
04:15I just keep trying to take in as much knowledge and information as I can to go and try and improve myself
04:19and put myself in a strong position to really go and be successful in this line in the game.
04:25Cheers, mate.
04:26Thank you very much.
04:27Really appreciate that.