With thanks to the News & Star
Nicky Adams does not tiptoe around the question, as he might a full-back. When asked if it is here, at Carlisle United, that his injury-interrupted career will eventually resume, he is clear and direct.
"I hope so - I said this from day one," says the winger who, whilst recovering from an anterior cruciate knee ligament injury suffered last November against Yeovil, is also out of contract at the end of this season.
Along with the obvious physical pain, an additional blow that autumn day was that Adams was only a couple of appearances away from triggering an extension to his deal. The timing of his injury has now left the 31-year-old at the mercy of the club's judgement.
One would normally say the manager's judgement, but given that Keith Curle still does not know whether he will be in charge much longer, this matter goes higher. Adams, back in light field-based training, believes he will be fully fit by pre-season, but cannot wait until then before knowing whether that will mean a third United campaign.
"From my own personal point of view, I want to stay here," he says. "I'm due to see Nigel [Clibbens, United's chief executive] again, because I need an answer.
"I know it's been in the press that the gaffer's hands are sort of tied with telling the lads - they're gonna be told at the end of the season, because he doesn't know his situation. But I'm different.
"The lads [in the team] who are out of contract are probably playing to showwhether they should get a deal or not. With me, they [the club] can only go off what I did in the 18 months before I got injured.
"In my opinion I did really well for the club. I said that to Nigel when I spoke to him the other week. I had a good chat with him, and he basically said that, yeah, I'm loved here, the fans like me. I said I wanted to stay, and he said, 'As soon as you're back on the grass, come back and see me.' He said they'd let me know by the end of the month.
"Hopefully I can get something. I don't want to say this but I'm a man, it's nothing personal, and if there's nothing there for me, there's nothing I can do. You take it on the chin.
"But I've got a family to look after. I've got three kids at home. I can't afford to wait until May. I'm not in the shop window, so I need to be told. If there's nothing here for me, I'm going to have to go and look at other clubs."
Speaking to the News & Star recently, Jamie Devitt, who has triggered an extension, admitted the uncertainty hanging over several team-mates, plus the manager, was "frustrating". After Saturday's draw with Cambridge, Curle himself praised his players for remaining "focused" as these matters rumble on.
Adams, though, is the first at United to highlight the player's reality in such clear personal terms. Aside from his own predicament, he also believes Curle ought to be retained.
"It's a difficult situation," the winger says. "We don't know what's going on with the gaffer, and the club. My point of view is that I'd want the gaffer to stay. I think he should stay. Obviously that's not down to me - it's down to the powers-that-be above.
"You have to look at what John Coleman at Accrington has done. He had a couple of years when he kept them up, missed out [in] the play-offs, had an indifferent season last year, but look at what they've done this year.
"He's got the backing, he kept the main lads he wanted there, and they've reaped the rewards. They're probably gonna get promoted. Fair play to them."
If United give Curle similar faith, one imagines Adams will also be kept on. Those at the top at Brunton Park do not, though, appear in a hurry with their decisions. In Adams' case, last season's player of the year says the need to best provide for his family is among the reasons he is not going to rush back to action too soon, and put himself at risk.
"I believe in my ability," says Adams, who was promoted with Rotherham, Bury and Northampton before joining Carlisle in 2016. "I know I'm not a flash in the pan. I've not done it for six months, I've done it year on year. I give my best to whoever I play for.
"If you look at stats, or promotions on the CV, the proof's in the pudding. I'm not gonna struggle to get a club but my honest answer to everyone is that I would like to stay here. I think I've got unfinished business here.
"My season was cut short when we were ticking along nicely, outside the play-offs. With everything that's happened to me, I'll come back stronger - definitely mentally, because this [injury] was tough to take. Maybe it's done me good as well. I've averaged 40 games a season for 13 years. Maybe it has given my body a break and I'll come back flying."
Adams made 21 appearances this season before the injury, having played 48 times in 2016/17. While he was inspirational in United's failed promotion push last term, some fans questioned whether the winger was hitting the same heights at the start of this campaign.
His own take? "You know what…when you don't get the results, people go away and think we're not as good as last year. I think the problem we've had this year is we've drawn too many games.
"Look at the teams we've played [at home] - Notts County, Mansfield, Wycombe. We battered them. Exeter - battered them on the day. But we didn't win the game. Matty Oakley at Exeter messaged me after that game and said, 'Jesus Christ, you put 20 crosses in today, if you'd put them on our lads' heads they would have gone in.'
"It's just the way it is. Notts County…for 45 minutes they didn't get out of their own half. I've not seen Luton yet, but the best team we've probably played here, and they were very good, miles better, were Coventry. Other than that, we've dominated teams, but because you don't win, people get carried away with the result more than anything.
"I was happy in myself [before the injury]. The 18 months I've been here I feel I've done really well for the club, on top of my game like I have been for the last few years. When I come back, nothing changes."
He repeats his hope that an answer from United will be forthcoming before April - which arrives on Sunday. "I can't afford ifs and maybes," he adds. "If that happens…you know what agents are like. They've already been on the phone. 'What's going on, what are you doing?'
"I've not been out of contract at a club since I started, so it's a new feeling for me. Hopefully they [United] can give me an answer, it's the one I want, we can get it sorted out, and my focus is on coming back fitter and stronger for next season.
"The club might be looking at lads for next year, and I understand it from both points of view - from the club's, and also the lads, who have families to think about.
"But I can't change their mind now. If it's a no, I'll be gutted, but it's football, and I believe in myself. They say there's no loyalty in football but I'm a loyal lad, and everyone knows I enjoy playing for the gaffer as well. Look what he got out of me over the last 18 months. I played some of my best football under him.
"We'll see. Hopefully another week's training under my belt outside, I'll enjoy myself a little bit, then I can go and speak to Nigel. He said he'd give me an answer, so hopefully that's what I'll get."
It is a footballer's lot, it seems, to have these concerns in hand with the physical challenges of recovering from serious injury. Adams, though, remains excited about the prospect of his first game back, in 2018/19.
"I'm only young," he says. "If it had happened when I was 36 or 37, I might have had a different problem. But I've got unfinished business, the desire inside.
"I won't have someone tell me I might not come back the same. I've read up on a lot of things. Everybody knows it happened to Gazza, one of my favourite players - he came back a bit too soon and he ended up being out for 18 months. That was in a time when surgeons weren't as good.
"In comparison to that you had [Stoke's] Kurt Zouma, who came back in six months, and he's had no problems. It's not a career-ending injury any more. It's a longer process, because of the bits and bats you have to do with it, but there's no doubt in my mind."
Adams smiles. "Lee Fearn [United's fitness coach] can't believe what's happened. It took him 18 months to get me in the gym [until this injury].
"I might not feel great [about going to the gym], but doubt motivates me. That's my little motto. If I've got any doubts about doing it, get it done, because I know the rewards are much better."