“It was only in the region of £9-£10 million which is nothing -Wolves spent almost that on Kevin Doyle.”

It is easy to understand why Carr remains so grounded when you consider where he found himself barely nine months ago. Released by Newcastle and with no club in the offering, the Dubliner presumed that his playing days were over.

That was until an opportunity with promotion-chasing Blues in the Championship came up, through a mutual contact of Alex McLeish’s.

And from the moment he seamlessly slipped in at right-back at Crystal Palace on that Tuesday night back in February, Carr hasn’t looked back.

“At the end of the day everything is a bonus for me now after the time I spent out of the game,” reflected Carr.

“At the time, I couldn’t get a club. That’s just life, isn’t it? If no-one wants you, you just go to the gym and get on with it.

“People did say to me ‘why have you retired?’ and I’d say I couldn’t get a club. They would say surely I could, but I couldn’t.

“They don’t realised football has changed now. Whereas before if you came out of the Premier League, if you contract was up or something, a lot of players would be guaranteed something in the Championship before.

“But now the money is getting scarce in the Championship and clubs wants to spend it wisely, which you can understand, with older players and especially full-backs.

“If you’re a forward then they think maybe because you can always nick a goal you could be massive for the club.

“But I don’t think the number one priority is a full-back. That probably didn’t help me.

“But now, just to have got the opportunity to play again, it’s been brilliant. As for the future, who knows.”