Adam Phillips puffs out his cheeks and pauses.
He has not long returned home from a training session with Morecambe, where he and Burnley under-23s team-mate Ryan Cooney are both on loan. Phillips has been in excellent form for a team in the early-season League Two promotion race but the conversation drifts back to a more challenging time in his career.
In January 2019, Phillips agreed to a mutual termination of his contract at Norwich City. Psychologically, he was really struggling; the Lancashire lad was missing home and it was affecting his football.
“It was nothing to do with the football stuff at Norwich, but I didn’t feel I was training and performing well because I wasn’t right mentally,” Phillips admits. “It was difficult to enjoy football. If you aren’t happy within yourself it’s going to have a knock-on effect on the pitch.
“In the end, I spoke to somebody at Norwich called Clive Cook because…
