When Nicky Bailey joined Middlesbrough in the summer, he left Charlton Athletic as a League One player desperate to prove himself back in the Championship, having previously been relegated out of the league.
Six months on, and he has achieved that. He has featured in 32 of Boro's 36 matches in all competitions, has arguably been the club's most consistent performer and must be in with a decent chance of winning the end-of-season Player of the Year award.
Yet as he sits at Boro's Rockliffe Park training ground ahead of this afternoon's away game at Reading, it is impossible to detect any satisfaction in the 26-year-old's face.
This has been yet another tortuous campaign on Teesside, and the toils of the collective have far outweighed the successes of any individual within it.
"At the start of the season, I didn't really know if I would be in the team and I didn't really know what position I would be playing in the side," said Bailey, who made a ?1.4m move from the Valley last July.
"Initially, it was a bit of a bonus just to be playing, so I'm obviously pleased with the level of involvement I've had
"But it's impossible to say my move up here has been a success. We haven't won anything, we haven't been pushing for promotion and we're in a much lower league position than we should be.
"We're in a relegation battle at the moment, so personally I don't feel I've achieved anything like I wanted to. Hopefully, I can amend that though by helping Middlesbrough stay in the league and pushing on and achieving things next year."
Bailey's refusal to bask in any personal glory is understandable, but with Boro just six points clear of the relegation zone ahead of today's trip to the Madejski Stadium, it is instructive to imagine just how bad things might be had he not been in the side.
The industrious Londoner has tended to form the shield in front of Boro's back four, holding things together in a midfield that has been shorn of so many key performers for so long.
Kevin Thomson and Barry Robson have suffered a succession of serious injuries. Mikael Tavares has failed to adapt to English football following a loan move from Hamburg. Gary O'Neil departed for West Ham during the January transfer window.
In so many matches, Bailey has been the last man standing, and while he has had to curb his attacking instincts in order to perform in a deeper role, his subsequent lack of goals has been a price worth paying in order to help protect a defence that is the youngest in the league.
"Everybody likes to score goals, that's part and parcel of football," said Bailey. "But when you're asked to do a job, and the team is in a bit of a mess, you have to accept that certain parts of your game might suffer."It's not about you though, it's about the team. So while I'm probably disappointed that I haven't scored any goals this season, I still feel like I've been doing a job for the team. Hopefully, I've stopped as many goals as I might have scored.
"I've always been an attack-minded sort of player, but playing in midfield you have to have a more defensive side to your game as well, and obviously that's been more to the fore this season."Maybe it's harder for me sometimes to stop myself going forward, but I feel as though I've been as disciplined as I can be in recent games. You just have to be switched on and play the role you've been asked to fill."
Like just about everybody else on Teesside, Bailey has spent the last three days pondering the plethora of late goals conceded by Middlesbrough this season.
Countless theories have been proposed - the defence lacks a leader, the strikers haven't scored enough at the other end, the whole side has been dropping too deep in the closing stages of games - but it is hard to pinpoint one potential change that could remedy the problem.
"It's such a hard question to answer," said Bailey. "I think we defended the long balls quite well on Tuesday (against Nottingham Forest), but it's just the way our luck has been going lately. One fell straight to their player. We pushed up to play offside, didn't get it, and the ball took a deflection and went in.
"Maybe it's a little bit psychological now, but we're working hard to try to fix it. It seems to keep happening at the moment, but all we can do is go out there on the training pitch and in matches, and try to put it right."
Source: Northern Echo
Source: Northern Echo