Former Wolves graduate Sammy Clingan now climbing another type of ladder

It might be in overcoming chronic homesickness when leaving a close family in Ireland as a 16-year-old to pursue dreams of becoming a professional footballer in England.

Or in casting aside regular periods of self-doubt and a lack of confidence to achieve that ambition and chalk up almost 400 senior appearances.

It could also be in lining up in direct opposition with Xavi, Alonso and Fabregas on international duty, or captaining your country against an all-conquering Netherlands in front of 50,000 in Amsterdam.

Or, it could also be in serving as a firefighter, putting yourself in the eye of the storm to support your local community in times of trouble and danger.

For former Wolves Academy graduate Sammy Clingan, carrying out that very job with the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service has given him a new lease of life – and renewed sense of purpose – since hanging up his boots.

“It might sound a bit crazy but I never had any confidence in myself playing football,” Clingan reveals.

“And it was only through doing the training for the fire service, which is pretty intensive, that it really gave me that level of self-belief.

“With the football, I had already effectively signed for Wolves at 14 and knew I would be heading over at the age of 16, so I took my eye off the ball a little bit when it came to school.

“I was never the best at exams when I was in education, I didn’t really know how to study, and yet it is something I have had to do loads of for my fire exams.

“There was so much to learn, but I actually enjoyed it, and it gave me the feeling that I was able to achieve something if I put my mind to it.

“But I never had that in football, I remember players who would big themselves up and say they were among the best and that’s something I was never able to do.”

It was at the end of his footballing journey that Clingan found himself with a decision to make about where his future lay.

He had rounded off his full-time footballing career in Scotland with Kilmarnock, but a knee injury which required an operation thus ruling him out of going to the 2016 European Championships with Northern Ireland also led to a surgeon’s advice that he should no longer train every day.

Continuing to play on a part-time basis with Linfield and then Glenavon back home in Ireland, Clingan would fly over from Glasgow on a Thursday for one training session and then a weekend’s match.

Eventually, as his family grew, he decided the commute was no longer viable and called time on his career once and for all, able to then spend more time at home with wife Corinne and young children Louis, now four, and Lucas, now two.

“After a career travelling around in football it was lovely to be able to spend time at home with the family but it soon came to the stage that I had to decide what I was going to do next,” he explains.

“Football had been my life, but while I had done my coaching badges, it wasn’t something I had any great urge to go into.

“My wife suggested I should maybe try out for the Fire Services, and, when we started looking at it, we realised it was very hard to get into but worth putting in the application.

“The whole process from submitting the application and being accepted was two years, and it was tough, but also enjoyable.

“I’ve been employed for over a year now, and I’m loving it, although you are on probation for three years and need to pass an exam every year to become more and more competent.

“You are learning all the time.”

That initial training process was gruelling, as it has to be, a 12-week course including intensive tuition on how to use the pump and fire appliances, dealing with different fires, how to cut cars open after Road Traffic Collisions, operating with breathing apparatus, looking after casualties, and much more.

Clingan’s watch is in the town of Kirkintilloch, just outside Glasgow, and there are few traffic issues getting to and from work given his journey in and out is approximately three miles.

It was all very different travelling-wise around two-and-a-half decades ago when the young Belfast-born midfielder had to spread his wings in pursuit of his footballing future.

If Clingan’s career was one in which his achievements arrived despite sometimes lacking confidence, there were many other scouts - and later teams - who had plenty of confidence in him.

He had already started attending trials from the age of 12, including with Arsenal and Celtic – the club he supports – as talent-spotters from far and wide flocked to games played by Lisburn Youth.

Already impressing at international level, one of his schoolboy appearances for the Under-15s included being up against Spanish World Cup winning legend Andres Iniesta in a game played at Derry City.