Eccleston teams up with United
Carlisle United have today signed Blackpool forward Nathan Eccleston on an initial one-month loan spell which keeps him at Brunton Park until 2 November 2013.
Eccleston, 22, started his career as a youngster at Bury but was quickly snapped up by Merseyside giants Liverpool when he was just 15-years old.
He progressed to make a number of European and Premier League appearances from the bench for the Reds and enjoyed loan spells with Huddersfield, Charlton and Rochdale through his three-year stay at Anfield.
The former-England U17 international moved to Blackpool for an undisclosed fee in August 2012 and has scored one goal in his six appearances for the Tangerines so far.
“I’m hoping he’s going to bring pace, energy and quality to the team,” manager Graham Kavanagh said. “I watched him quite a bit when he was at Liverpool but I think he’s had a bit of a difficult period recently.
“However, I do think he feels he’s at a point in his career where’s he’s ready to push on. He’s had one or two loan moves which haven’t worked and I think he will feel he has a real point to prove.
“He now needs to move his game to the next level and find some consistency. Hopefully he will do that with us. I’ve told him to come here and enjoy it and to make sure he fully integrates himself into the group. He’s the type of player who can get bums off seats because he can run with the ball and he can take people on. He’s a definite threat in and around the final third.”
“I spoke to him at length on Thursday night and I heard everything I wanted to hear,” he continued. “Now he has to follow that through. There’s no pressure on him but I do want him to come here and show everyone what he’s capable of.
“He knows he needs to make an impact and if he enjoys himself then we’ll get the best out of him. He’ll bring a bit of freshness to the squad and I think he’s one who will really help us.”
“He can play in a number of positions and it is good to have that type of player who gives us options,” he added. “We're a bit light at the moment and he helps us with that.”
“I spoke to Paul Ince about him when I first got the job, just under four weeks ago, and he has been different class for us,” he explained. “Paul is a voice at the end of the phone who has been through a lot in his career - both as a player and as a manager.
“He knew that Nathan was going to be my first signing and that I needed a good character. It’s vitally important for me that my first signing counts. I need a personality who will buy into the way we work and I really do think we’ve got that with Nathan.”
Eccleston will wear squad number 22 and has been granted permission to play in our JPT second round game at Morecambe on Tuesday evening.
