00:00So, Mike, tell us a bit more about what kind of defender Blackpool
00:03will get in with Fraser Horsfall.
00:05Yeah, a good, solid, reliable defender.
00:10He's well-liked by county fans.
00:13I think I saw one tweet last night that said,
00:15wasn't expecting to see that this evening kind of thing.
00:18It's come out of the blue.
00:20Look, he was out of contract,
00:22so I guess not the biggest surprise in the world.
00:25But he was, bar a couple of injuries,
00:31a mainstay in the back line of Stockport County.
00:36Him and Ethan Py in particular formed a very good partnership.
00:40Brad Hills came in in January and they found a way to combine the two.
00:44He, towards the back end of the season,
00:47became a goal-scoring defender as well.
00:49He was put up there, particularly on set pieces.
00:53So, I think it's come as a surprise that he's left
00:59and it's kind of just been done very, very quickly.
01:02But you're looking at the offer that Blackpool have made him four years.
01:07In the EFL, that's a rarity.
01:11So, if he's gone for security for him and his family,
01:14then as well as consistently playing at League One level,
01:18then who can blame him?
01:19Obviously, he's been in the EFL a long time.
01:23He was part of the Stockport team that won promotion last year.
01:26So, has it just been a natural progression for him,
01:28stepping up the leagues?
01:30Well, it has.
01:30I mean, he went, if I'm right, he got promoted with Northampton
01:35and actually then moved to Stockport.
01:38So, never got the chance then to play in League One with the Cobblers.
01:41But then, step back down to League Two.
01:45Brilliant with Stockport County in that promotion-winning year.
01:50They obviously missed out in his first year there in the play-off final.
01:53Then Storm, you know, were brilliant in their second season in League Two.
01:59And last season, yeah, I mean, that's the concern with any team, isn't it?
02:04Any squad, any player, that when you get promoted, it is a level higher.
02:09Can you handle that level higher?
02:11And I think what Stockport County, although they did go and sign a lot of players
02:15last summer, a lot of them were already there and had carried on the journey
02:18with Dave Chaloner and his backroom staff.
02:22And Fraser was one of those.
02:24And, yeah, settled into League One pretty well.
02:26I think he'll be a good performer for Blackpool.
02:33How big of a blow will this be for Stockport to lose?
02:36Obviously, they offered him new terms.
02:37He's been with them a few years, so how hard is it going to hit them?
02:42I think that they will have had a succession plan.
02:44If you were, you know, desperately wanting Fraser Horsfall as part of your team,
02:49you'd be offering him a deal before the season ran out, you would imagine.
02:53I think maybe some of that hints at where County thought they might be next season.
02:59And if they'd got to the Championship, would Fraser Horsfall have been part of their plans?
03:02And maybe that was the slight delay on that.
03:08But then again, once you know you're in League One and you know he's a capable League One defender,
03:13why are you not offering, you know, why a talk's still ongoing kind of thing?
03:18And maybe, you know, I'm not privy to those conversations.
03:21I don't know what Stockport offered and I don't know what Fraser wanted.
03:24So, it is a surprise, but knowing the ambition of Stockport, knowing how they operate,
03:33I also, they'll have had a succession plan.
03:35They'll know who and what and when they want people and it won't.
03:42Because they managed a period without him last season, I think it was a foot injury,
03:50if I remember correctly, that kept him out for, you know, a sizable amount of time.
03:54Within that time, you know, they didn't fall apart.
03:56They didn't fall out the playoffs.
03:57They maintained, you know, the conversation with Stockport for the majority of the season
04:02actually focused around, are they going up automatically or are they going in the playoffs?
04:05And even with Fraser's injury, I don't know how long he was out for, but a month, maybe six weeks.
04:13Brad Hills sat at centre-back in that and duly impressed the county fans with that.
04:18And the feeling is maybe, all right, they were more solid with Fraser in there
04:23because the fans knew him and the team knew him, as opposed to a loan signing that comes in in January.
04:29But they didn't, you know, they were just, I mean, the beauty of Stockport this season
04:34with everyone that he had in the team, injuries or not, they were largely consistent.
04:39And I think, you know, Fraser only helped to add to that consistency.
04:44Going a little further back, he spent time with Macclesfield, the old Macclesfield.
04:48So, it's just been a constant progression from, obviously, the player he was then to the player he is now.
04:54Yeah, I think at Macclesfield, you knew he was going to go on to bigger and better things.
04:59That was a troubled Macclesfield side.
05:01It was, you know, all the off-field issues that Macclesfield had and that budget just doesn't equate really in League 2,
05:10or certainly didn't at the time, might be different in a few years.
05:15But, yeah, he was a, I think, you know, if I was probably to pick a word for Fraser,
05:25it probably would be solid.
05:26You get a solid centre-back in your defence.
05:30Is he, you know, someone who also watches a lot of Premier League football?
05:33Is he...
05:34See, the interesting comparison is, alongside him in the defence was Ethan Pye,
05:41who Dave Chaloner openly said has the ability to go on to bigger and better things,
05:46you know, has the ability to play at Championship level or Premier League level.
05:50I've never heard that really said about Fraser, but you knew at Macclesfield he was better than Macclesfield.
05:57And he has really performed for Stockport County.
06:00And I think, again, I just go back to what Blackpool are getting is probably what Blackpool need
06:06and will have a good, solid, reliable defender.
06:11Yeah, looking worse, Stockport County last year.
06:14Is he the kind of player that can help Blackpool drive up the table and get to worth A1s in, like, that top six?
06:20Yeah, I think so, because not only is he a good defender, but, as mentioned, you know,
06:25towards the back end of the season, he was popping up, scoring big goals in big games.
06:28He scored against Leighton Orient in London in the play-off semi-final.
06:35He did concede a penalty in that game, but it was so close-range to him that you could argue it wasn't a handball in some sense.
06:45But I'd be looking at what he did at the other end in that game rather than at his defensive end.
06:51And, you know, he's a real threat on set pieces.
06:55You get him up for a corner, the amount of times that Stockport's corner takers or free-kick takers
07:00could find the head of Fraser Horsfall for an effort that either went just wide or hit the net or hit the post or whatever,
07:07was numerous.
07:10So, I think, you know, whichever way you look at it,
07:15yeah, he's good at both ends.
07:21And, all right, it may only be three or four goals a season,
07:24but those three or four goals could win Blackpool a game or could, you know,
07:28could be the difference between the play-offs or not.
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