How Blackpool's 'different mentality' attracted ex-Cambridge United and Hull City defender back to the area

The 47-year-old currently works for the Seasiders’ Community Trust as the head of early years and primary schools. He’s also been recently announced as the chairperson of a new committee overseeing the club’s ladies and girls teams.

During his playing days he was at Bloomfield Road between 2006 and 2007, as well as playing for the likes of Cambridge United, Peterborough United, Hull City and Rotherham United.

In a recent interview with BBC Radio Lancashire, Joseph discussed why he was always open to the idea of returning to the Fylde Coast.

“I kept my house here, and my partner is from Preston, so there was always something in the back of my mind,” he said.

“When I first came to Blackpool I loved where I was and made some really good friends through football. I enjoyed the people in and around here, there’s a way of life and a different mentality with people around here so it felt right.

“I came at the back end of the 05/06 season, and the team wasn't doing great. The following season was the one where ended up playing at Wembley and getting promoted against Yeovil - you could just feel there was momentum.

“The key was all the players lived local and socialised outside of training and football. It became a really tight-knit group. You weren’t just playing for yourself, you were playing for each other - everyone had the same drive.

“As soon as you get to the back end of the season and you can taste the possibility of promotion, there was a real strong focus there.

“We had some really strong players, some of them needed that chance and opportunity to play consistently.

“We all seemed to gel and got on at the training ground, and off the pitch as well, there was a really strong unit.”

Joseph states he’s proud of the impact the Community Trust has been able to have on the local community.

“I looked for opportunities to get into coaching and fortunately with the Trust, I picked up some coaching hours to start delivering football camps and sessions,” he added.

“It sort of snowballed from there. I’m comfortable within the stadium. I’ve got things I can bring to the Trust with some of the links I had. I’m comfortable around talking to players and management. That enabled me to create my role.

“I then moved into working on a health and wellbeing programme, which sat quite nicely with me because I’d been living it for 16 years. I’ve got lived experience of some of the topics we talked about.

“I’m in a really good place at the minute, I’ve got a fantastic team around me - we do some really good work within schools. More than that, we provide opportunities for some of the children in Blackpool.”