Hampden was great, but Wembley is even better, declares Blackpool defender

Clark Robertson hopes to end season on a high, but his dreams don’t end there, finds Graeme Macpherson

CLARK Robertson is a proud Scotsman, a former youth international with designs of one day representing his country at senior level. In any debate, however, about the respective merits of Wembley and Hampden, well… there is little debate in Robertson’s eyes.

The defender came through the youth set-up at Aberdeen and went on to play for his hometown club in the 2012 Scottish Cup semifinal, a 2-1 defeat to Hibernian. Now with Blackpool, he will get the chance to experience Wembley in all its glory this afternoon when his side take on Exeter City in the League Two play-off final. It will be his first time at England’s national stadium and he hopes it lives up to all his expectations.

“It’s going to be the biggest game of my career,” the 23-year-old said. “Stepping out at Wembley will be a great experience. I played at Hampden in the Scottish Cup semi-final before with Aberdeen but I think this one will top even that.

“I’ve never been to Wembley before. My dad and my brother were at the England versus Scotland game last year but I couldn’t make it unfortunately as we had a match. But they’ve been telling me all about it.

“They say Wembley is the home of football so to hopefully be able to say I’ve played there will be incredible. Just walking out the tunnel and on to the pitch will be a great feeling. It’s shaping up to be a brilliant occasion and one we’re all looking forward to.

“Getting the chance to play at Hampden was great but I think Wembley will top even that. That’s not easy to say as a Scotsman but it’s probably true!”

Playing at Wembley is an obvious perk for many players who know that, realistically, they will likely never reach a major cup final or play for England. Robertson wonders why it isn’t similar up here, rather than making the play-off finals a home-and-away affair. “I don’t know why they don’t just make it a one-off game in Scotland, too,” he said. “If they were to play it at Hampden I’m sure they would get big crowds regardless of who was involved. And for some of the lower league guys it might be their only chance to play at the national stadium, just as it is for a lot of us getting the chance to play at Wembley. “It’s already a massive game but it just makes it feel a bit more special playing at an iconic stadium like this. I’m hopeful that this isn’t a one-off for me and I get to play at Wembley again but I’ll be taking it all in just in case. In the warm-up I’ll try to soak it all up.”

Blackpool could use the positivity a play-off final victory would bring. A Premier League side as recently as 2011, they have slipped down three tiers of the English game in the space of just five seasons.

That has brought obvious disgruntlement among a section of the club’s support who won’t be at Wembley – or at any other Blackpool game – until the owners, the Oyston family, leave the club.

“When our manager Gary Bowyer came in last summer he sat us down on the first day of preseason and set out our targets for the year,” Robertson said. “One of those was to get promoted straight back up to League One. We’ve put

ourselves in a great position to do that.

“After the second leg of the semi-final you could see how much it meant to the fans that had trav- elled. The fans that do still come to the game have given us a lot of time and support this season. I’m sure it will be the same at Wembley.”

Robertson has endured a mixed two-year spell at Blackpool but he and his young family are now settled in the area and would love to stay longer. That will depend on the club who hold a one-year option on his contract.

“It’s been a bit of a rollercoaster,” he admitted. “When I first came down from Aberdeen I wasn’t playing regularly and it was tough. But I ended up playing 40-odd games by the end of that first season. We got relegated which was terrible but one of the reasons I came here was to play regularly so it was good that I had managed that, despite the difficult circumstances.

“This season has been much more enjoyable. We’re winning games and haven’t been beaten too often. We’ve had a good run in the cups beating Barnsley, and playing Crystal Palace as well. So it’s been a good season. But we have to finish it off by getting the win at Wembley.

“I’m out of contract at the end of the season and Blackpool have an option on me for an extra year. We’ll see what happens after the final. I love it down here and I don’t see me coming back up to Scotland for the foreseeable future, unless it was the right club of course.”

Robertson hopes Gordon Strachan is still scanning the English lower leagues in his search for a centre-half.

“I’m maybe a wee bit forgotten down here in League Two but hopefully if we get promoted then you never know what might happen.

“It’s always been my ambition to get into the full squad having played with the Scotland Under-19s and Under-21s. So I’ve got experience of the national set-up. And now I’d love to make the step up to the full squad.”

I don’t know why they don’t just make play-off finals a one-off game in Scotland too