PRO MIS his care ES eras he see ksto build a brid geto top fligh t

turned to my missus and said: ‘I’m away to the gym…!’

“My appearances nearly all came against the big teams – City, Spurs, Arsenal, Man United, Chelsea.

“I started the f irst game at the Etihad and Nigel De Jong, a World Cup f inalist the previous summer, was marking me in my No.10 role. Sergio Aguero came on for his debut and scored two. That’s when you realise your dream is actually real.

“But you’re not thinking: ‘That’s me, made it…’, you’re wanting to work out how you get the better of the guy.

“However, at the same time you’re appreciating it has been a long road to that point and you do take it in.

“I had earned the right to be there – and then you try to get as many strips as you can because you don’t know when it’s going to end!”

As a late bloomer, Dobbie knows now he’s far closer to the end than the beginning – his CV now reads 17 different spells with 11 separate clubs over 16 seasons.

But that’s only giving him more appreciation for where he is, not less. Dobbie said: “I had plenty of other options and could have been financially better off. I could have been closer to home and the family in Lytham – it’s not as if we’re moving back up to Scotland. “I left the house at quarter to six for training, I’m up and down the road but it’s all about the football and

Queens.”