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If Bolton Wanderers are struggling to find positivity in a difficult situation they need only to glance towards the player they have just escorted to the door.
There would be just cause for Adam Chicksen to feel wronged by what happened in his four months with Wanderers, which ended somewhat unceremoniously this week.
The left-back played 20 times following his arrival on a free transfer in September and turned out last weekend against Rochdale despite knowing he would be released the following day.
Tomorrow he will keep track of Bolton’s score against Portsmouth on the TV at home in Milton Keynes with his young family, continuing the search for new employers which begins with a training in the gym at 6am each morning.
But while fans may question the logic of his departure, Chicksen remains impressively calm when discussing how it came about.
“I think from day one I knew in my own mind there was nothing concrete,” he said. “My contract had a date on it and it was up to me to perform as well as I possibly could to get a new one.
“I didn’t speak much to the club beforehand. My mindset was just on delivering performances.
“But then the day before the Rochdale game, as the gaffer has already explained, he asked whether I wanted to play. And, honestly, there was never a doubt in my mind that I would.
“The club said they wanted to go in a different direction and that’s football. There was no money issue, no falling out with anyone. I walked out with my head held high because I know I did everything I possibly could.
“I feel like I have improved, progressed, and I haven’t got a bad word to say about my time there.”
Chicksen’s positive frame of mind on leaving Bolton is very different to the feeling he had in the summer when it was announced he would not be offered a chance to stay at Bradford City.
The former Brighton defender had not enjoyed much success at Valley Parade and recalling that darker time he now finds himself in a much better place.
“Leaving Bradford, that was the lowest point of my whole career,” he said. “Mentally it was very difficult, and I had a nagging Achilles injury. There was a lot of stuff that was standing in my way.
“But Bolton gave me the lifeline. Joining the club was a defining moment in my career.
“Whatever happens from here on in I know my performances for the club don’t change – I’ll always be able to point at that spell of games and say I was happy, I was consistent.
“I am genuinely pleased to have got the chance to show the real me.”
Chicksen had hardly had chance to learn his new team-mate’s names when he was plunged into Keith Hill’s first league game in charge at Rotherham United – a 6-1 defeat it is perhaps easier to forget.
The 28-year-old picked up on the fact he had joined a club in recovery, and though results were not always easy to take he believes Wanderers will come again.
“The fans have got their club back and I’m happy to have been a tiny part of that process,” he told The Bolton News. “I won’t look at my time there as anything other than positive.
“When I was walking around and stopping to talk with people I knew I must be doing something right because they were always really supportive.
“To be able to say thanks to the fans and to the club is a nice way to end it all.
“One person might have lost out but life moves on and I honestly wish Bolton every bit of success, I’m sure they will get to where they want to be.”
At the time of the interview, Wanderers were still searching for a left-back, something which changed later the same afternoon as they agreed a deal with 20-year-old Hull City defender Brandon Fleming.
The prospect of reaching out to Chicksen again has been discussed among supporters, and though that ship has now sailed he has not ruled out the possibility of playing again in Bolton colours.
“I mean, you never say never,” he added. “If they called me tomorrow with something then I’d be on the train straight away.
“I never talk rubbish, so if they wanted to change their mind and offer out an olive branch I’d be swinging on it for days.”
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