Seaside Scots

CHARLIE ADAM

‘With the Scottish connection, Charlie and I clicked as soon as he came down on loan the previous year.

‘I picked him up every day and took him to training and ever since those days we’ve been really tight.

‘What a signing he turned out to be for £500,000.

‘With his left foot, from the middle of the pitch, he could turn any game on its head by scoring a worldie from 50 yards or playing the killer pass.

‘Even if Charlie was quiet for 70, 80 minutes of a tight game he would pop up with something at some stage.

‘I remember we got battered by Forest at the City Ground and were hanging on. Charlie just broke away, scored from 25 yards and got us the points.’

STEPHEN DOBBIE

‘He ended up having four loan spells at Blackpool and went on to get promoted with different clubs (Swansea and Crystal Palace).

‘In the final third he could do something different for us, he had great ability.

‘In the semi-final second leg at Forest, he started on the bench.

‘But him coming on turned the game in our favour and we won 4-3. A great addition midway through the season.’

MATT GILKS

‘Gillo is a character who trained as he played. He communicated the game from the back, which we worked on a lot.

‘For me, playing as full-back, it was great as he’d coach you from behind.

‘When he snapped his kneecap away to West Ham at Upton Park in

November of the Premier League season, that was a massive blow.

‘If he hadn’t got injured that day, I believe we’d have stayed up. We missed what he could see in the game and his all-round goalkeeping.’

BARRY BANNAN

‘Barry was a young lad when he came on loan (from Aston Villa) and I knew him from coming through at Lenzie Youth Club.

‘The first day in training I remember, he was small but could turn on a sixpence with that low centre of gravity, great close control and a lovely left foot.

‘So I thought: “This kid has something special”. And he went on to play his part.’