WANDERERS fans never got close to seeing Stephen Darby in full flow, unlike their counterparts over the hills at Valley Parade.

The Liverpudlian arrived from Bradford City on a free transfer with the club shackled heavily by a transfer embargo. The associated problems spilled over into Bolton’s return to the Championship and Darby’s unsteady early performances saw him filed behind Mark Little and Jon Flanagan for the right-back berth.

On the face of it, the defender had become a bit-part player in a squad scrapping for survival in the Championship but the reality is that he was anything but.

Football clubs can be bitter places, at times. No professional would ever profess to enjoy being out of a team and will always have a theory on how or why he has been hard done by – but the best attempt to do something about it.

And it was because of characters like Darby that Parkinson feels his Bolton side was able to haul themselves over the line to safety last season, when just about everyone in the footballing world had written them off.

“One thing that kept us going through some tough times was the lads not in the team training well, supporting the lads, Stephen kept his professionalism,” he said.

“I’m not just saying it now because of what has happened, I said it in the summer. I told the chairman, I have told you (The Bolton News) on many occasions.

“When we went to Barnsley I needed him on that coach because every good person you can have around in a game like that, sending the right messages, is so valuable.

“Sometimes the most important people in the club are the ones not in the team. If they become disillusioned or disaffected, a bit bitter, it can spread through the club and affect everyone. But I think Stephen was one of those who did a great job for us in that respect.”

Phil Parkinson has never had the luxury of a budget which allows him to pick and choose players based entirely on their CV. It was not until this summer that he spent a single penny on a transfer fee, and the £200,000 invested in Josh Magennis from Charlton currently works out at a very healthy £50,000 a goal.

Rather the Bolton boss and his trusted aides, like chief scout Tim Breacker, use more old fashioned methodologies to recruit new players. They are watched in real life – preferably several times – and their background and character is researched via the kind of networking you can only really do at a Professional Development League game at somewhere like Curzon Ashton on a Tuesday afternoon.

Parkinson did not need to go to that extent to bring Darby to Bolton, for he had played 215 games – or approximately 19,255 minutes – under his charge. Most of them had been as captain.

But five years earlier he knew he was on to a winner when he examined footage of the young defender, then on loan from Liverpool at Rochdale.

“I always remember doing my homework one summer on Stephen and had my usual array of DVDs and videos,” he told The Bolton News. “I was probably a bit behind the times in terms of technical support to watch players so I did it the old fashioned way.

“He’d been on loan at Spotland and as I was watching these games I kept shouting my son in and saying ‘George, come and have a look at this!’

“There was a goal-line clearance, a last-ditch tackle, and the more you watched, the more you realise he’s the type of player who helps you win football games.

“He’s the type we signed at Bradford and knew supporters would eventually grow to realise what he brings to the party. Somewhere out on social media or YouTube there’s a compilation of goal-line clearances from Stephen Darby, which is amazing. He had that unbelievable sense. He saved us countless goals.”

Parkinson was charged with reversing the fortunes at Bradford City, who had nosedived from the Premier League into League Two.

And Darby was one of the cornerstones of the team which reached the Capital One Cup final and won the play-offs to get Bradford back on an upward trajectory.

“Put it this way, David Hopkin at Bradford isn’t having the best results at the moment but if he wanted to show anyone what it means to wear that club’s shirt, to play with real commitment, he needs to show a video of some of Stephen Darby’s performances,” Parkinson said.

“I remember meeting him when he signed for us, and I’ve thought about this a lot over the last week or so. I remember saying ‘this is what we want at Bradford, we’re trying to rebuild the club and want people who can come on a journey with us.’

“As I was saying it I could see in his eyes, he was saying ‘you’re talking about me.’ “He came aboard and the Bradford people will tell you about his contribution and spirit. He was a terrific player.”

Circumstances conspired that Darby could not make the same impact at Bolton, or at least not on the field of play. But football clubs are more complicated environments than fans often give them credit for, and Darby’s popularity among the players – new and old – was measured by the raw emotions shown at the training ground over the last couple of days.

Parkinson struggled to hide his own sadness as he fronted up to speak to the media this afternoon but pledged to do everything in his power to support the player and his wife, the England international Steph Houghton.

Ever the leader, Darby has already taken control of his situation. Less than a week after specialists had broken the crushing news that he had an incurable illness he had fronted up to speak with his team-mates and assure them that while the outlook for sufferers of motor neurone disease is bleak, there is life to be lived.

Wanderers head to Middlesbrough tomorrow night. Football stops for no-one.

But as Liverpool contested a game against Paris St Germain in the Champions League – the competition in which Darby made his Reds debut – there had already begun a movement among supporters on social media to try and organise a collective show of support.

Rivalries abandoned, fans of Bolton, Bradford and Liverpool have already begun to join forces and ponder how they can help.

Parkinson appealed for Darby, his family and friends to be given space to assimilate the life-changing event but pledged his own support to whatever the 29-year-old wishes to do next.

“We have spoken a lot over the last week and we felt it was important to let people know what was happening,” he said. “Stephen didn’t want to hide away and have people asking questions about what he was doing.

“He wanted to get on with planning, preparing and spending time with the family.

“There will be a lot of people in football who will be sending their best wishes to Stephen and his family because he’s a very, very popular lad. All we can do is support him the very best we can.

“He has been one of the very best I have worked with, and I honestly mean that. I know everyone at Bolton Wanderers will do whatever we can to help him in the future.”