Marvin Ekpiteta says he will always be grateful to Blackpool for the opportunity they gave him but believes now is the right time for both parties to go their separate ways.
After moving to Bloomfield Road in 2020, the defender made 143 appearances for Tangerine and scored 12 goals. He leaves the club with Callum Connolly, Matty Virtue, and Shayne Lavery, who are also not under contract; James Husband’s future is also up for debate.
Neil Critchley’s team was denied a spot in the League One play-offs as a result of Ekpiteta’s final game for the Seasiders, a 3-2 loss against Reading on the last day of the season.
The 28-year-old acknowledges that he didn’t decide on his future until the end of the campaign, but he says it feels like the perfect moment to move on.
It was a great, peaceful time to part ways, he told the Gazette. “Since we went down last season, I feel like the club wanted to go in a slightly different direction, and I want to play as high as possible.”
To be honest, I hadn’t decided until the end of the season. I really wanted to work hard to advance now that I was back on the squad. It was fortunate that we postponed contract negotiations until the club was informed of the division it was in, as it prevented me from worrying about it.
A week following the previous game, we held a meeting. They wanted to bring in someone a little younger and more in line with the club’s future goals, but they also kind of knew where I stood and where my head was at.
“It was a pleasant mutual way with no ill will or animosity. Having a seat down and discussing everything was good. That’s football; that’s how the ball is played.
The previous home game against Barnsley was difficult due to the fact that several of us were not under contract. It was tough for me and James Husband to have a few words on the pitch before kickoff; we had to fight back the tears and focus on the game. I will never forget that day.
“The Reading game was disheartening because we knew that if we had won, we would have qualified for the play-offs. To score three points and cross the boundary, it was a single game. Even though we were winning, we were unable to hold on.
I make an effort to focus on the future rather than obsessing on the past. Although you cannot go back and alter it,]
