Gary Taylor-Fletcher insists Blackpool's team spirit has not been affected by the transfer speculation over Charlie Adam's future.
Taylor-Fletcher says team spirit remains strong
Blackpool ace Gary Taylor-Fletcher insists the side's team spirit has not been affected by the transfer speculation over Charlie Adam's future.
Adam's future at Bloomfield Road was the subject of one of the longest transfer stories of the window after being pursued by a host of clubs.
Liverpool, Aston Villa and Birmingham all saw bids rejected by Blackpool for the Scotland international, while Tottenham saw a last-ditch move for Adam on deadline day fall through at the eleventh hour.
Taylor-Fletcher is confident the team's morale remains high despite the constant rumours over their captain's future and he admits all the transfer talk has given the players perfect opportunity to have fun with Adam.
"The spirit is the same as it always has been and we will just keep playing as we are," Taylor-Fletcher told
skysports.com at an event promoting
EA SPORTS FIFA 11 Ultimate Team'.
"We are all still pulling in the same direction and all the [transfer talk] just gives us a bit more ammunition to fire at him and he takes it well.
Banter
"The banter has been flying around. Before the Man Utd game he came into the changing room and we all started singing 'You'll Never Walk Alone' and then the manager walked in after him and he carried it on.
"It is one of the things that shows the spirit and attitude we have got in the squad.
"People always go on about the spirit here, but people aren't saying how good the players we have got here are.
"I think the players we have are good enough to keep us up not just the spirit we have.
"There is a great spirit here, but there are a lot more quality players here than just Charlie Adam."
Blackpool face West Ham on Wednesday looking to end a run of three successive defeats and Taylor-Fletcher concedes these are the type of games they need to win if they are to secure their survival in the Premier League.
The Tangerines came close to inflicting Manchester United's first Premier League defeat of the season last time out before finally losing 3-2 at Bloomfield Road after leading 2-0 at half-time and Taylor-Fletcher admits the defeat was hard to take.
Back to winning ways
"For 65 minutes we were the better team, but we just ran out of energy in the last half hour," he said.
"Maybe we were a bit naïve in the second half, but we can take a lot from the game.
"We need to pick ourselves up [against West Ham] and these are the games that we need to pick up points from and hopefully keep that gap from the bottom of the table going."
Gary Taylor-Fletcher is promoting EA SPORTS' FIFA 11 Ultimate Team. Take on the challenge of building a squad of the world's best football stars by earning, buying, selling and trading players with other Ultimate Team gamers around the world. Visit www.easportsfootball.com/ultimateteam
