He leads me into the boardroom. I’m expecting to see the physio, or a medic, but instead Lance Rossiter stands next to the trophy cabinet. No one likes the chairman, but the money he made from telecoms is helping us climb steadily back up the league. I’ve never so much as spoken to him before.

‘Mr Rossiter!’

He shakes my hand, his skin cool and shiny, like leatherette. ‘Good to see you back, kid. Had us all worried for a bit. And you might have come across Diane from Public Relations?’

A skinny blonde woman reaches across the table to shake my hand. ‘Sit yourself down,’ Rossiter says, pulling out a chair. ‘Biscuit?’ The plate is piled high with the posh kind, wrapped in gold foil.

‘Not for me. I’m upping the protein at the moment, to build my muscles ready for training again.’

When I turn to Coley, he gives me a weak smile.

Rossiter slaps his hands together. ‘So, now, Joel, we wanted to talk to you about something a bit special. Coley’s idea, so I’ll hand over to him.’ He gestures with one hand towards the coach.

‘We want a campaign to roll out defibrillators at grounds. When you got . . . sick, I looked it up and I couldn’t believe the survival rates were so low. Only five in a hundred people make it in some parts of the country.’

‘That’s why I’m the Millennium Miracle,’ I say.

‘But more defibrillators could change everything,’ Coley says, like this is news to me. Yeah, that’s why I’ve got my own personal one.

Rossiter and the PR woman nod like the Muppets.

‘We thought we could start by installing one at the ground here, with you as our figurehead. How does that sound?’ Coley smiles expectantly, as though I should be reacting like I’ve been picked for the main squad.

‘Great. Yeah, I mean, anything to save lives, right?’

Rossiter stands up. ‘Excellent. I’ll leave you guys to thrash out the details. Diane will do a press release, how thrilled you are to stay involved with the club you love, etc. We’ll cover all expenses . . .’

His voice seems to fade out as my brain processes the previous sentence. Stay involved.

‘Mr Rossiter, I’ll be happy to be part of that, so long as it doesn’t get in the way of getting my fitness back.’

‘Sure, sure. It needn’t clash with hospital visits, and whatever it is you do next. Do you have plans? We could chip in for a course or something . . .?’

He’s putting on his coat. I stand up, too. ‘I’m coming back to join the team. That’s what I’m doing next.’