'Old me would have thrown the towel in and not be professional': Ex-Manchester United and Millwall man's honest admission after resurrecting fading Portsmouth career

These days, however, the 30-year-old faces career challenges such as his demoralising Pompey exile differently – and is now reaping the rewards.

The former Manchester United and Fulham man has established himself as a key performer during John Mousinho’s encouraging start to life as Blues boss.

Yet under predecessor Danny Cowley, Tunnicliffe was previously an emergency option when injuries and lack of bodies forced the head coach’s hand.

The midfielder made five League One starts in the opening five-and-a-half months of the campaign – now he’s racked up eight in the last six weeks.

He told The News: ‘I don’t think you get anywhere in life moaning. Football is a weird career, it’s obviously a few opinions and you play or you don’t play, so you have to train well, be professional and wait for your chance.

‘The new manager has come in, I am in his plans at the moment and it's my job to stay in the team – and we’ve got some good players waiting.

‘It’s obviously hard when you’re not part of things, but you get to a point where it's out of your control, so you just turn up every day, train and go home. That’s your job.

‘I’m a positive sort of person, I won’t be down, I’m mentally strong, and I will just crack on with it.

‘Probably about 4-5 years ago I would have thrown the towel in, but I’m older now, been there, done it, seen it, I’m 30 years old. You take all those life experiences and get on with it, you’re not going to get anywhere by complaining.

‘I’m being professional, but a few years ago probably wouldn’t have been. I wouldn’t have trained as hard, probably even made the manager’s mind towards me worse, if that’s possible.

‘The fact I haven't done that at Pompey is a pat on my back. Credit to myself that I didn’t do that – now I’m back in the team.

‘I am getting paid to come to work, it’s my job, you have to be professional no matter the circumstances, keep working hard.

‘It's not good for the other boys that aren’t playing if I’m walking around the building sulking and changing a mood, bringing them down, it’s not fair on them. I am experienced now and would like to think I’m a good team-mate.’

Tunnicliffe has appeared to be heading out of Fratton Park on several occasions since last summer, with persistent links to clubs in Australia and America.

Yet while Tunnicliffe acknowledges such interest was legitimate, he’s adamant he never really wanted to leave the south coast.

He added: ‘There were discussions and chances to leave, but they didn’t come up.

‘Obviously I wanted to play football so, if I wasn’t going to play here, I was going to look elsewhere.

‘But there was nothing really anything serious about me leaving, I didn’t want to leave, I just wanted to play – and now I’m happy.’