On the pitch at Valley Parade, Bradford, two former footballers embrace. Their paths crossed only fleetingly as players — for just one minute in 2010, when one career was winding to a close and the other was just beginning — but there is an unbreakable bond between them now. Stephen Darby is in a wheelchair. The former youngster was about to turn 30, having left Bradford City for when he received the devastating diagnosis that ended his football career and turned his life upside-down.
His arrival, scheduled for 9pm in a pub car park in the Rossendale Valley, between Bacup and Burnley, is eagerly awaited. He is on time — and on brand. He has been home from holiday precisely two hours and here he is on a hillside with the wind howling and rain lashing down. The weather has been pretty grim all weekend, but this is something else. “I thought I’d join for the coldest, wettest, darkest, most miserable part,” Sinfield says. “No, I’m only joking.