The past few weeks have been a very different experience for me.

At the end of last month, I was the centre of attention in many ways as Charlton took on my former team Leicester City, and I returned to their stadium for the first time since I left the club.

It wasn’t a happy time for me there, mostly because I once missed an important penalty for them, but it was not as important for me to play against Leicester as people might think.

It was an important game for the club, and it was a little bit special for me because I didn’t play a lot at home when I was there. It’s funny, because I always seemed to be on the bench for the home games, so for me, it was more a new opportunity to play at the stadium.

Thankfully, I managed to score in a good win, just as I did when we won in the reverse match at The Valley last August.

Some people might have thought that my celebration was a bit muted, especially because I was booed a bit by the Leicester fans, but it’s never been my personality to celebrate and run everywhere as though I’ve scored a goal in the World Cup final.

To be honest, the fans didn’t boo me as much as I thought they would. I took that as a sign of respect, so I was thinking that I would do the same and not take the mickey.

If there was a lot of interest in me, it was nothing compared to when I was sent off against Nottingham Forest the following Saturday.

I got a bit frustrated because we were being outclassed at home, and when their player blocked me from getting to the ball, I tried to come around him, then he blocked me again, so I pushed him with my legs.

I regret my gesture, of course. But the gaffer and the players all know that I’m not a silly or nasty player, and they know that I was angry and upset about my red card.

The worst thing was that we were already struggling, and I had made it worse because we only had 10 men for the second half. And then I was suspended for the next three games.

I returned for Saturday’s derby against Millwall and our defeat was even more disappointing. We know how much the fans want to win that game, and I don’t think that there was any lack of effort from the players.

Had my free-kick been a couple of inches to the right, or the referee seen when I was clearly fouled in the penalty area, the result would probably have been different, but there is nothing we can do about that now.

The international break this weekend means that we have a good break to prepare for the final eight games of the season, and getting the points that we need to make sure that we stay well clear of the bottom three