The last words Tim Krul utters before the dictaphone is switched off could be a mantra for anyone who has worked at Newcastle United and come through the other side. “It’s a funny business,” he says. He is talking about his 12 years at St James’ Park and about how capricious the game can be. “There’s a perception,” he says. “‘Where’s Tim? What’s happened to him?’ I don’t want to be a has-been.”

Where’s Tim: the seafront at Hove, cappuccino in hand. What happened: life, football. “You play every three or four days, you’re in a bubble, cocky about everything,” Krul says. He clicks his fingers. “And then your world changes.” Before his injury, he was Newcastle’s No 1, Holland’s goalkeeper. Now he is at