'Living in miserable Blackpool killed me. I quit my loan early to get away': Ex-Portsmouth and Leicester City striker Marko Futacs

Yet the sunny south coast is highly recommended by the Hungarian after spending the 2011-12 season with Pompey and staying in a Lipstick Tower apartment in Gunwharf Quays.

After joining Leicester City from the Blues, the towering striker was loaned to fellow Championship club Blackpool in March 2012 for an initial month as he searched for regular first-team football.

However, Futacs insists he didn’t even see out his scheduled stay, having quit following a 1-0 win over Crystal Palace, when he was an unused substitute.

Yet it was the town - rather than his football experiences - which drove him out of the popular seaside resort.

Futacs told The News: ‘Blackpool killed me. For me it was like winter time, it was very cold, it was raining 24 hours a day. I was there for one month, it was not good.

‘When I played at the seaside at places like Pompey and Split (Croatia), I felt much better. You know the sun is shining, you can swim or drink coffee, it’s relaxing. Blackpool was miserable, always dark, always bad weather.

‘One day after a game I just left, I didn’t talk to anyone, not the coach, anyone. I just went back to Leicester and the next Monday Leicester asked me what I was doing with them, I should still have been at Blackpool.

‘I told them “I’m back, I don't care. Just don’t put me in Blackpool again, please”. They wanted to keep me longer, but I said no.

‘While there, I stayed inside the hotel inside the stadium. That is where I lived - in the ground. That also wasn’t much fun.

‘There was a big fun park, which was the only positive thing there. I went there once, on the roller-coaster and other rides. That was my happiest day of my month in Blackpool.

‘Blackpool really killed me.’

‘Portsmouth is amazing’

Futacs had been offered a new Pompey contract in the summer of 2012, although claims an 80 per cent drop in pay was proposed, with the club in administration.

Instead, as a free agent, he signed a three-year deal with Leicester, who had finished the 2011-12 campaign in ninth.

However, by March 2012, opportunities had been restricted to 12 matches, so Futacs agreed to a loan switch with the Tangerines.

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He subsequently totalled 67 minutes from five matches while with Paul Ince’s men, before quitting early to return to the Foxes.

Now aged 35 and retired from football, he added: ‘At Pompey, I rented an apartment in Portsmouth in the Lipstick Tower, it was amazing.

‘When I went to Leicester, David Nugent was there and he also told me he had an apartment in the Lipstick Towner and loved it there.

‘Better than living in a hotel at Blackpool’s stadium in the winter with it always raining.’

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