Gareth Seddon: A strange time to be an agent but always a pleasure to return to Fleetwood Town

The 39-year-old can reflect with great affection on a hugely successful three-year stint at Fleetwood, which brought two promotions and ended with Town in the Football League.

Having worked as an agent since hanging up his boots, Burnley-born Seddon has cause to return to Fleetwood regularly and he always enjoys catching up with chairman Andy Pilley.

In the first of a series of articles for The Gazette, Seddon describes his job as the sport enters a summer like no other in its history.

Seddon said: “As an agent it’s certainly very different from usual. At this time of year I’d be going into clubs and speaking to chairmen. Now we’re doing it all on Zoom. It’s a very different culture but it can still work.

“There’s a lot of uncertainty and until the clubs make a decision on the season we can’t do anything.

“Usually the season is over now, players are having their break and on June 30 contracts are up for a lot of them.

“Normally they are being offered deals around now, but none of that is happening and nobody knows when the season will end. I doubt they can finish it on the field but I hope they do.

“I represent a couple of the Fleetwood players and I like to visit the club whenever I can.

“ I always had a good relationship with Andy Pilley and still do to this day. I’m really pleased to see them doing so well.”

Explaining his move into his current line of work, Seddon added: “At the end of my playing career I was preparing to be a coach and I did my badges.

“I always wanted to stay in football but I couldn’t decide in what capacity.

“I’d always had an agent who was brilliant with me. Even in my bad times, when a serious illness looked like it would prevent me playing again, he always looked after me and my career.

“He said that with my personality and experience I could offer a lot in terms of advice to players and it was something I was interested in having a go at.”

One appealing aspect of the job is that it enables Seddon to keep in touch with Fleetwood Town and relive his tremendous times there from 2009-12.

“Some of my best memories definitely come from my time at Fleetwood,” he says.

“I look back and can say I played with players like Jamie Vardy and Andy Mangan.

“I may be a small cog in the wheel but I can always say I’m part of the club’s history, and that’s something Andy Pilley reminds me of every time I see him.”