Former Blackpool midfielder reflects on time at Bloomfield Road

Blackpool Gazette

Part one: Ex-Blackpool promotion winner Adrian Forbes discusses his time with the Seasiders, including the highs and the lows.

Transcript

00:00I've been told many stories about what Squiresgate was like in the noughties.

00:04So what was your first sort of impressions of the training ground?

00:08Being in a position where you're mid-training session

00:12and the manager has to stop what he's saying

00:14because there's a plane flying over that low

00:17and literally landing next to one of the pitches

00:20over a small picket fence was quite surreal for me

00:22and really weird and it was quite old, quite run down,

00:27not particularly well maintained.

00:28Listen, it wasn't great. That's the reality.

00:30It wasn't great. It really wasn't a fit for purpose.

00:32But one thing that Simon did at that point in time

00:35was put together a group of players that the team spirit,

00:39the camaraderie was unbelievable.

00:41And for everything that Sean Barker at right back couldn't do,

00:46I could do playing right wing in front of him

00:47and everything that I couldn't do as a right winger,

00:50Sean Barker could do behind me.

00:51But Ian Everett next to Sean Barker at centre-back

00:53could complement Sean Barker and Keith Southern, etc., etc.

00:56And then we had the talisman of Wes Houlihan playing as well.

01:00So despite Squiresgate not being great,

01:03he put together a group of players that were good,

01:06technically and tactically gifted players.

01:08So the training facility didn't matter.

01:10You mentioned some names there

01:12and some of those players went on to play in the Premier League

01:14with Blackpool.

01:15Others like Wes obviously went on to have a good career

01:17and played in the Premier League.

01:18Elsewhere, did you get a feeling that,

01:21you know, maybe not with Blackpool,

01:22but in some capacity some of those players

01:25would go on to play at the highest level?

01:27Absolutely.

01:27And I think what you see with players,

01:31and I certainly see it now with my coaching hat on,

01:34there are certain players that have certain characteristics

01:36that you know they will go and play at a high level.

01:39I think if I look at myself personally,

01:41arguably with the attributes I had,

01:43I should have played higher than I did.

01:45But my issue was my levels of consistency just weren't there.

01:48I would have games of the season where I'd be exceptional

01:50and then I'd have four games where I'm not at a required standard.

01:54So that didn't lead for those,

01:55that didn't lead me to get the same opportunities as others.

01:58I know that.

01:58I can accept that.

01:59I can appreciate that.

02:00It is what it is.

02:01But to see the likes of Ian Everett,

02:03who was my roommate for my whole time at Blackpool,

02:05to see what he went on to achieve with them

02:08was an absolute joy to see.

02:10And although I didn't get the opportunity

02:12to play in the Premier League with Blackpool,

02:14I know and I'm comfortable that I was part of that start

02:16as being part of that team that started the promotion journey

02:20and started the growth of the club.

02:21And I'm happy and comfortable with that.

02:23And someone like Wes Houlihan,

02:25it was a strange scenario

02:26because obviously I played with him at Blackpool.

02:28He then moved to Norwich.

02:29When I finished playing and I had to quit,

02:32I moved to Norwich.

02:33It was basically like home for me to an extent.

02:36So I was there able to see Wes up close and personal

02:38on a daily basis.

02:39So I was back there coaching for such a long time.

02:42So great to see what those players went on to achieve,

02:44but it really didn't come as a shock to me.

02:46It came as a shock to me that Blackpool ended up there,

02:49but not a shock that those players ended up there.

02:51To touch on Wes again, just how special was he?

02:54Because he's the name out of that era

02:56that seems to crop up the most when you talk to people.

02:59There was one story of Wes was playing a small-sided game,

03:04beat three or four players, took a shot, missed,

03:07and no one said anything, didn't track back.

03:10Then about two minutes later, I did the same thing,

03:12went through, went past everyone.

03:13And I can remember clearly hitting the shot

03:15and it hit the crossbar.

03:16And everyone's like, oh, like,

03:19and we were having a bit of a giggle.

03:21And Tony Parks, bless him,

03:23he turned around and he started shouting at me

03:26to get back, get back.

03:27And Simon Grayson is,

03:28Forbes, you get back, Forbes, you get back.

03:30I said, hang on a minute.

03:32Wes has just done exactly the same thing.

03:34And you've not said a word to Wes,

03:35but I do it, it's an issue.

03:37And Tony Parks turned around to me and went,

03:38yeah, but you're not Wes.

03:40And that pretty much summed up Wes at that club.

03:44He was an enigma.

03:46He was a magician.

03:47He was his own man.

03:48But you knew you could turn to Wes

03:49and he would make things happen.

03:51And it didn't shock me or surprise me

03:53that the kid that turned up on trial at Blackpool

03:55that no one was aware of,

03:57but came around, rings around everyone,

03:59went on to have such an amazing career.

04:01And for me personally,

04:01to see where it really flourished at Norwich

04:04was a real joy because, you know,

04:05as I say, I started at Norwich,

04:07but exceptional player,

04:08exceptional talent, great guy.

04:10And it was a real joy to see

04:11what he went on to achieve.

04:12I think it was your first season with Blackpool,

04:14was that when you got to the playoffs

04:15and got the chance to play at the New Wembley,

04:18one of the first games at the New Wembley?

04:20I was born a mile from Wembley.

04:22Born and brought up a mile from Wembley.

04:23Literally a few bus stops away,

04:26walking distance if you wanted to.

04:28So to get the opportunity to play there

04:29and have so many friends and family there

04:32was an amazing achievement for me.

04:34To even get to play on that pitch,

04:36but to walk up the steps as a winner,

04:38lift a trophy as you do, was amazing.

04:41Not something that I expected,

04:42but to go on the unbeaten run of games that we had,

04:45I think it was 10 games unbeaten

04:46going into the playoffs or something like that,

04:48but we had that in itself was an amazing achievement.

04:51So to be part of a team and a squad that achieved that

04:53is something that I hold real dearly.

04:55But the important thing was we were set a task

04:57and set a challenge at the beginning of the season.

04:59To stay in the league,

05:00we ended up getting promoted.

05:02So that shows the work that Simon Grayson did

05:06behind the scenes for putting the squad together.

05:08It showed what he did on the training field,

05:10but it also showed that we had some really good,

05:11talented players in that squad at that point in time as well.

05:14Was it like growing up in the shadow of that stadium?

05:17Obviously you'd have grown up in the old Wembley.

05:19Did it just give you back more determination

05:21when you're playing football as a kid?

05:22Think, I'd like to play there.

05:24You think it, you dream it,

05:26but you never think it's going to happen.

05:27You see, you know, the road that leads up to Wembley.

05:30I would stand on this main road and see

05:32England teams driving past,

05:35the team buses driving past with the police escorts.

05:38I see teams going to FA Cup finals

05:39on their bus going to Wembley.

05:42And I would stand on the road in the local petrol station

05:44and watch all these buses go past and think,

05:46oh, if only one day, if only one day.

05:48But you never really think it's going to happen.

05:49So to be in a situation where I was eventually on that team bus

05:53with the police escort on that road that I grew up on

05:57and grew up around in the local shops, et cetera,

06:00there was really amazing.

06:02And to grow up seeing the old Wembley,

06:06seeing the old Wembley get teared, that torn down,

06:08and then the new one built to get the opportunity to play there

06:11was a dream come true.

06:13And probably maybe the highlight of my career.

06:15I was really lucky with what I achieved throughout my career,

06:17but that's got to go down as one of my highlights, for sure.

06:202-0 victory over your overall.

06:21Obviously, Blackpool's got heritage in the playoffs.

06:24I think that might have been the third time.

06:26We've done a few more since.

06:28So, yeah, just special to be in the starting line of that day.

06:31The story behind that as well is that it was well documented.

06:35I had a real tough time at Blackpool.

06:37The fans didn't take to me in any way, shape or form.

06:41The fans didn't see anything that I brought to the table,

06:44although my teammates did.

06:46And I think what the fans won't know is I had to amend

06:49and adapt my game massively for the style of play

06:52that the manager wanted me to play.

06:53I came from Swansea where I was an attack-minded player

06:56and was scoring goals and creating goals week after week.

06:58I wasn't able to play that way for Blackpool,

07:00and I know I had to sacrifice my form,

07:03sacrifice my style of play for the greater good

07:05to bring success to the team.

07:07But that led to Simon Grayson making the decision

07:10to drop me for a game for a player called Chris Brandon

07:14that we brought in on loan from Bradford, I believe.

07:17And Chris came in and scored two goals on his debut,

07:20only come on at half-time, and I scored one goal in 39 starts

07:24or something like that it was.

07:26So, of course, you can imagine the fans' response to that as well.

07:29But I really remember that we was going into our last league game,

07:33I believe it was, and it was Swansea away.

07:35And I desperately did not want to go back to Swansea

07:37and be sat on the bench.

07:39Desperately did not want to go back to Swansea

07:41and not be in the starting XI, and Chris actually got

07:43a straight red card in the game the week before we played Swansea.

07:47So there, all of a sudden, I'm going,

07:49right, now with Simon, is the gaffer going to put me back in

07:51against Swansea?

07:52And he did, and I think we won 6-1.

07:54And I think I created three or four goals within that game.

07:57Then, obviously, we had Oldham in the two-plus semifinals,

08:00and I played well in both, and then, obviously, the final itself.

08:04So to get to playing the game was amazing, but it was the build-up.

08:09It was a bit of adversity that I faced over the course of the season

08:11to then find myself playing and starting, you know,

08:14getting in the starting XI and having the trust of the manager

08:16in that game was something really special for me.

08:19And I was actually playing against a left-back on the day

08:21at a player called Nathan Jones, who I'd played against countless times,

08:25and it had always been a good battle.

08:26So to get one over him was good, but then actually ended up being

08:29Nathan's assistant at Luton Town all these years later before coming

08:33over here to, obviously, to America was really interesting

08:37to look back at now.

08:38But, as I say, the journey, the adversity I faced to get to being

08:41in that starting XI was something that I'm personally proud of.

08:46Norwich, Luton, Swansea, I had that rapport with the fans,

08:50and the fans saw what I could do.

08:52But for whatever reason, or I say whatever reason,

08:55the fans just didn't like me.

08:57The fans didn't like the way I played.

08:58And they vocalised it.

09:01And there will always be the fans that always have that opinion

09:03that if we boo the player, the player's going to play better.

09:06It's never going to work like that.

09:08And if you're in any walk of life and you've got someone,

09:10you know, you're working in IT, you're spending your day on a computer

09:12and you've got someone behind you booing you and telling you

09:15how rubbish you are at your job, it's not going to encourage you

09:17to perform better, is it?

09:18And I think that's probably one of the biggest disappointments

09:21that I take away is that I was never recognised for the work rate

09:25and what I did for the team.

09:27But they just viewed me as someone, oh, he's not scoring goals,

09:30so therefore he's not good enough.

09:31They didn't see that my work rate off the ball allowed Wes to go and flourish.

09:38They didn't see that my tucking round to keep that midfield three

09:41or midfield four when Wes had pushed on to give him that free roll

09:44allowed Wes to go and do what he wanted to do.

09:47So that was probably the real big disappointment to take away

09:50and I think that the Blackpool fans had an opinion of me

09:53that wasn't just, there's nothing I can do about that.

09:56Now it is what it is, but I wouldn't say it left a bad taste,

10:00but just disappointment because I don't think they got to see

10:03the true Adrian Forbes, the player, but I go to bed comfortable

10:09and confident each evening that me doing what I did

10:12and sacrificing myself allowed others to flourish

10:14and at the end of the season we were successful.

10:16So I guess something was done right.

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