Former Liverpool player Jay Spearing has recalled the time he received news that he could not feature for Bolton because of a £100,000 clause with Liverpool.  Spearing, 30, will lead Blackpool out in the FA Cup against Arsenal today looking to pull off a giant-killing. Spearing has been at the Tangerines since 2017 after signing from Bolton – a place where it’s not all happy memories. After making his Liverpool debut in 2008 in the Champions League, Spearing was loaned to Bolton for the 2012-13 season.

He made a permanent move at the end of that loan spell but by 2016 the club were fighting a Championship relegation battle. However, hopes of Spearing leading them to safety were undone with Bolton unwilling to select him. Under terms of the deal with Liverpool, one more appearance for Bolton would trigger a £100,000 payment to the Reds. Talks were held between the two parties but Liverpool refused to defer the terms.

“Neil Lennon [the then Bolton manager] said on the training ground, ‘You can’t play tomorrow,’ ” Spearing said in an interview with the Times. “I was like, ‘What have I done?’ He said the chairman had rung and there was a clause. I’m not saying I would have been the saviour but there were still 13 games and it was difficult to watch. I didn’t ring anybody [at Liverpool]. I was just a little bit gutted they didn’t help me out.”

But Spearing holds no hard feelings and he still thinks the Reds will win the Premier League title. “I played in every competition for the club and I did everything I had ever dreamt of doing,” Spearing said. “I will always look back and think, ‘What a time that was.’ I don’t have one regret. I genuinely think they will win the title and the city will go into shutdown. Look at the Champions League final in 2005. I was 16, on a scholarship, and sitting on top of a traffic light outside the town hall for five hours waiting for the bus to come round.”