It was in Sion, 150 miles south of Basel where Northern Ireland will hope to produce a stirring fightback against Switzerland on Sunday to secure their passage to the World Cup finals, that Kyle Lafferty’s gambling addiction took another turn for the worse.

On the one hand, Lafferty was thankful to be somewhere quiet, and life in the sleepy Swiss town was certainly far removed from Glasgow’s goldfish bowl and the incessant scrutiny that came with being a Rangers player.

“Every Thursday there was a market on the main street and the place was on lockdown on Sunday and everything was closed,” the Northern Ireland striker recalls. “It was a shock after Glasgow but it was nice to be there to concentrate on football rather than having negative things written about you. There was none of that over there. You were left alone to do your own thing.”

That was also a serious problem, though. Lafferty found himself with more time on his hands than ever, and while he managed eight goals in 28 games in that 2012/13 campaign for Sion and got a good move to Palermo in Italy off the back of it, his gambling continued to spiral.