Sam Parkin is shuddering, albeit through a rueful chuckle, at recollections of enduring a footballer’s “ultimate insult”.

The former Chelsea youth-team graduate turned Swindon striker, who represented 14 clubs in as many years before hanging up his boots in 2014, has admittedly been put in an awkward position. No one wants to talk about being reduced to the role of spare part, after all. Where is the incentive in recalling those long afternoons spent shivering on the bench, forever glancing across at the manager and wondering if your time has come, while your team-mates sink without trace out on the pitch?

At some point, Parkin suggests, it is inevitable that the substitute’s desire to be involved wanes. Probably once it is patently obvious that the game is up and there is no hope of salvaging a result. No chance of playing a meaningful role. Usually around the same time when, in the grip of winter, all sensation has finally been lost in the toes.

“You’d always start wanting to get on, but that might change late in the game, particularly if the team’s being hammered,” says Parkin, a starter in the vast majority of matches he played, but still a forward summoned from the bench 106 times in all competitions, including two cup finals, over his career. “Those times when you’re 4-0 down away from home and the crowd are doing their ‘olés’, rubbing it all in… The clock’s ticking down. The scoreboard’s saying you’re in the last few minutes. The team are going through the motions.

‘Actually, I’d rather not get on now thanks, boss.