Blackpool head coach Neil Critchley reflects on Rob Apter's progress through a number of loan moves away from Bloomfield Road.
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00:00off the back of last season and the season that he had,
00:03you can see that that's given him belief and confidence in himself,
00:07but that's something Rob had anyway,
00:09that makes him the player that he is.
00:11And we had a good open conversation with Rob
00:16last summer and I could have been really selfish
00:20and kept him around, not knowing or promising him the game time
00:26that he needed at that stage of his career
00:30and we felt that was the right thing for Rob and his development.
00:36He had a fantastic season and he's back now training with the group
00:40and I'm looking forward to seeing how he does
00:43in some of our pre-season games coming up.
00:45Rob's a versatile player, he's got a good football brain
00:49and he's got an ability in the opposition's half of the pitch
00:57to be able to create and score goals for you,
01:00but he's very good on the ball and he can link play
01:03and he's got different attributes that will be interesting,
01:07but he's got some good competition around him,
01:11he knows that and this is a step up from last season,
01:14from League Two to League One
01:16and obviously we were at the top end of League One
01:18so that's also a bigger jump if you like.
01:22So he knows he's got competition,
01:25he knows he's not guaranteed to play,
01:28but none of the players are.
01:30We want a competitive squad where they come into training every day
01:35and they know they have to push themselves
01:37to get a place in the team and that's healthy.