IN one sense Andy Procter is on familiar territory, but in another it’s completely alien.

Being back at Accrington Stanley after spells with Preston North End and Bury was like coming home last season, after almost two years away.

It is the club where he became a full-time professional footballer, after being plucked from neighbouring non-league side Great Harwood as a young teenager; and where he earned a place in the Football League when the Reds returned in 2006.

He was the fulcrum of the midfield; their regular box-to-box man.

But now, having made 440 appearances for Stanley and being just 11 away from breaking the record set by legendary former striker Paul Mullin, he is having to come to terms with the concept of fighting for his place, and being patient.

“It’s something I’ve had to get used to. Certainly at Accrington it’s something I’ve never really had to do,” said Procter, who is being kept out of John Coleman’s promotion pushing side by rising star Matt Crooks and Seamus Conneely.

“I never have been a good watcher really.

“It goes back to when I was injured. A football career is only short so you want to pack as much into it as you can, so sitting on the bench I find really frustrating.

“But while the lads are doing well it’s something I’ve just got to crack on with.

“I’m a realist. Crooksy and Seamus have come in and done unbelievably.

“They’re both great lads. I try to help Crooksy as much as I can. He is still young and I do speak to him quite a bit in training and help him.”

Some might feel a temptation to tackle hard instead of talk and tutor in training, to try to force their way back into the side by whatever means necessary. But that’s not Procter’s style. there are no grudges.

“No,” he confirmed. “I have got some enjoyment out of watching Crooksy and Seamus play, but I have found it quite frustrating as well.

“I’ve just got to try to keep myself as fit as possible so if the gaffer does give me a chance that I am somewhere near ready.

“I’m 32 now. I’m still going well in the fitness tests and stuff though as I keep telling the gaffer.

“It has been a frustrating year but it’s also a year where I’ve transitioned a little bit in that I’m doing a little bit of coaching, I’m helping out with the injured lads. I’m not sulking, but I do still want to be involved in the playing side and feel I can still offer something.

“But I also accept that I need games to get up to speed.

“It’s difficult for me to come into the team and come out of the team. I need five or six games on the bounce, which I have been discussing with the gaffer and it’s something we might look at after Christmas but, as I say, while the team’s doing so well I’m happy to be a part of it. But I certainly want to carry on playing.”

Procter made 33 appearances last season after being brought back to the club by former manager James Beattie just before his departure and Coleman’s return for a second spell.

He was on course to cruise past Mullin’s milestone before suffering a broken ankle at Burton Albion in mid-March.

Since returning to action in September, the Blackburn-born midfielder has been restricted to six substitute appearances.

But leaving the club after more than a decade in 2012 is also a factor in Procter now playing catch-up.

“I got a really good move to Preston,” he explained.

“I was delighted at the time. Preston’s a massive club and I had the huge honour of captaining them.

“It was a club in transition. There were some big name players going and I’d started the first four or five games and Graham Westley, the manager at the time, said ‘I think you’d be the right man to be captain’.

“But as it turned out the club was in a bigger transition than I realised and it wasn’t a particularly nice atmosphere at the time, if I’m being honest.

“A lot of lads didn’t really buy into what Westley was doing and I did find myself sort of stuck between a rock and a hard place.

“It was a massive club and a massive opportunity for me, and one that I couldn’t turn down.

“But in hindsight I probably would have been better establishing myself before I took on the armband.”

From there, he moved on to Bury before returning to Stanley.

Healthy competition at Stanley, with Anthony Barry also vying for a place in midfield, is a measure of how far the club has come from the one that first dipped its toe back into English football’s 92.

Procter admits he could never have imagined they would still be there 10 years later, and pushing for yet another promotion.

“No, not really. It was a bit unknown for most of the squad and the gaffer and Jimmy (Bell). But credit to them, we’re established now and if anything we’re looking to kick on and get into the league above,” he said.

“The new owner (Andy Holt) has come in and he’s got big plans to develop parts of the stadium. We’ve now got an on-site gym, we’ve got a youth team that are starting to get some good results and I think we’re a proper professional outfit now, although we’re still operating on a relatively small budget.”

Procter is a chartered physio, having completed his degree through the PFA, and is also taking on some coaching duties with Stanley.

But rather than prepare for life after football, his immediate aim is to play more this season, and not just because of the milestone.

“I’ll be honest, I’m not really focusing on it,” he admitted.

“If I get it, brilliant. If Paul Mullin keeps it then I couldn’t think of a nicer guy to have it. I think he’d say the same about me.

“It would be a big feather in my cap. You only have to look at some of the lads who have played here. To have played more than anyone would be a good achievement in my career.

“But I don’t just want to be put on for the sake of it, I want to actually contribute.

“In the anniversary year and while we’re having such a good season it would be lovely to do, but I’m not banking on anything just yet.”