00:00You were linked to Blackpool a long time before joining. How long were things rumbling on for in the background?
00:06It was probably about six weeks, I'm going to say. There were a few clubs in there and Blackpool was one of them.
00:13As I said before, I spoke to the manager, I spoke to a few of my friends and they all had good things to say about this club and where it's going.
00:21It made me really easy, to be fair.
00:24Was there a defining factor that made you think this is the club for me? A few clubs were linked but was there one thing that eventually ticked the balance?
00:31As I said, I spoke to a few of my mates and when people are speaking good about the club and speaking it to me, it just stands out.
00:40I spoke to a manager, he's a great manager and what he's done over his career is unbelievable.
00:45It gave me that wee bit of hunger to work underneath him and I can't wait to get going and improve.
00:50You previously mentioned Ollie Norburn, he was someone that was here for 18 months, probably didn't go as well as he would have liked.
00:55But when you got someone like that talking up the club, someone who's maybe not experienced what he would have liked on the pitch, must have said a lot.
01:01Yeah, he's a top lad. I was with McGuigan and I've had a few phone calls but he was here for 18 months, whatever it was.
01:08But speaking to him, he said nothing but good things about this football club and it was really good things to hear.
01:14Yeah, someone with that experience, he's been around as well, does that paint the picture?
01:18Yeah, of course he's been around for a long time, he's so many hundreds of caps or painters under his belt.
01:25And speaking to him, I've spoken to him as I said plenty of times and he's really experienced lads so coming from him is massive.
01:33It feels like you've been in the league run for quite a long time with various long stints, building up, building up.
01:36So do you think you're ready now to take that next step, reach the next level?
01:40Yeah, of course, you know, I'm here to do as best as I can for the club and for myself and the teammates and all the fans.
01:48You know, I've been around League One for a couple of years now on loan and I really enjoyed it.
01:53I mean, I've done well in every loan I went on, every loan got better and improved.
01:58So I'm just really excited to get going there.
02:00When you're a young player and you're going loan, you're on loan, you're a loan player.
02:03Do you know what I mean?
02:04You're not sort of, you're part of it, but you're sort of not part of it.
02:07And I'm here now for four years, so I'm part of this football club and I'm going to want to do as best as I can for it.
02:13You moved all to England at a young age. What was that sort of like going to Forest as a teenager?
02:18Yeah, I moved when I was 16, as I said before there.
02:21You know, it's obviously difficult to move away from home, away from your family, away from your friends.
02:26But, you know, Forest done everything they could and they improved me as a player, most importantly.
02:32But yeah, they put me in the digs when I was 16 and, you know, I have to hold my hands up because they treated me with huge respect and I really appreciate it.
02:39Even though you've been out on loan spells, does it feel weird permanently leaving Forest now, taking that big step away from someone you've known for so long?
02:45Yeah, it's, you know, when you've been at a club for five years and you finally get up and you leave, it's a bit strange.
02:51Yeah, it's a different feeling. But, you know, this is what football is all about.
02:55You know what I mean? You need to take your next step in your career.
02:58And I thought this is the right thing to do.
03:00Yeah, so obviously Blackpool's a club that's been in League One for years. They want to step up.
03:03So do you think you can grow with the club now?
03:05Yeah, well, that's the goal of this football club.
03:07You know, we want to aim to get the championship and want to get it promoted.
03:12And I think that's every player's aim, the manager, all the staff, the exact same as they thought.
03:17So hopefully we can do that.
03:19And there's quite a few attacking options. Are you looking forward to building different partnerships with the likes of Tom Locksum and Alanis?
03:24Yeah, you know, there are a few top players, you know what I mean?
03:26I've trained with them for the last week now and, you know, you can just say they're real quality players.
03:30So hopefully we can start gelling together and start linking up really well and go and get a lot of goals between us.
03:36You mentioned the international stage as well. So it's about putting good performances for the club and hopefully get more caps for the country.
03:42Yeah, it's a big factor. You know, it all goes down to how well you're doing at your football club.
03:47And they get obviously to call it to go and play for Northern Ireland, which is massive.
03:51I take that very big. You know, playing for your country is, there's no better feeling.
03:55I've said this plenty of times in interviews that, you know, a boy from Belfast playing for Northern Ireland, Windsor Park is unbelievable.
04:02And there's no better feeling than that.
04:04Obviously you want more, but eight caps at the age of 21 must feel special already.
04:08Yeah, of course, you know, I'm young and I'm inexperienced, but experienced at the same time, you know,
04:13and I just want to go and get as many caps as I can and do as well for my country as club.
04:19Cool.
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