Professional footballer – the dream job. But at the moment the dream job isn’t much fun. Fulham have been in the bottom three since the start of the year and we are still quite a way from safety with the number of games running out. And that doesn’t make for a happy time. It’s not over – I still believe we can get out and survive – but whatever happens come May, this season will go down as one the harshest experiences I have faced.

Whatever your profession – teacher, lawyer, builder, rocket scientist or even footballer – there will always be good times as well as bad. No job is immune from that, no matter how great it may seem from the outside. We all have our day-to-day moans and groans at work – commuting, a run of late nights in the office, the photocopier that never works. In football it is things like ice baths and getting injuries. But this season it has gone beyond that. I love playing football, but for weeks and weeks now it has become associated with stress and pressure, which really wears you down and takes its toll.

And whatever your job, if you are having a bad time at work, you take it home. It affects your whole life and never leaves your thoughts and this is no different. Our situation isn’t something you can just leave at the training ground. It’s always there in the back of your mind and you take it with you everywhere you go.

I can’t remember the last time I went out with friends because I just don’t feel particularly up for being chirpy and sociable right now. My mind is on other things. You keep looking to the next game and thinking that you are going to turn a corner and it doesn’t happen, so you are constantly feeling disappointed and aware that what you are doing isn’t good enough. It’s exhausting.

In addition, you are aware that the frustrations you are feeling personally are also affecting many more people than if you were in a regular job. It’s the tens of thousands of people screaming from the terraces that makes football what it is. But you know those fans are also suffering with you when you have had the kind of season we’ve had.

And, of course, it comes up constantly. I went to my local grocery store on Monday last week and the guy started asking me what happened against Sunderland. There is no escape from it. But that is what comes with the territory of doing your job in public – good or bad, everyone knows about it.

In some respects, the threat of going down can be the biggest motivation you need. But winning is a habit and so is losing. I don’t think there is much difference in pure football terms between the bottom six or seven teams, which shows how the psychology is a huge part of it. But at a football club you have 25 or 30 guys in the squad, so you can’t assume that everyone will deal with this situation in the same way.

However, despite all I’ve said, while staying up is still possible, we certainly won’t be giving up on ourselves – all those people who have written us off, we could prove you wrong.