TWENTY minutes into the interview, and Grant Leadbitter is sitting shaking his head. A conversation about the Sunderland captaincy has meandered into a chat about the way that football has evolved in the 16 years since the midfielder first pulled on the red-and-white shirt of his boyhood club.

Back then, if you wanted to make a name for yourself, you had to do it on the pitch. Now, footballing fame comes in a digital form, something Leadbitter struggles to get his head around. The era of ‘show us your medals’ is over; now, for the youngsters coming through at a club like Sunderland, it is a case of ‘show us your Instagram likes’ if you want to gauge success.

“Everything’s different now, and I understand it’s different,” said Leadbitter, who returned to Wearside in January after a ten-year absence that featured lengthy spells at Ipswich Town and Middlesbrough. “I’m kind of learning that over the last 12 months, I’m learning that things have changed.

“I’m learning myself that football is going in a different way. People build profiles off the pitch, which I find is amazing, amazing. I see that in other people, but I’ll always try to do my talking on the pitch. I still believe that’s what you need to do as a football player.”

It can be construed as a criticism in some quarters, but you just know Leadbitter would take a great deal of pride at being described as ‘old-school’. He is not on social media and shuns any kind of celebrity spotlight. He is engaging company in a one-to-one setting, but when he appears on camera or in print, he can often come across as gruff and aloof.

His workplace is the training pitch, not the TV studio, and while he accepts youngsters progressing through the academy system have different priorities now, he is adamant they should not forget the principles that were drilled into him from an early age. Hard work, commitment, respect. You can get as many retweets as you want, but if you don’t put the effort in, you’ll eventually be found out.

“I’ve been the same all through my career,” said Leadbitter, when asked to expand on his approach. “One of my first managers always told me, ‘It’s what you do Monday to Friday that dictates what you can do on a Saturday afternoon’. Saturday becomes second nature, and that’s what’s always stuck with me.

“If players want to follow that, then that’s what I’d want them to follow. I believe working hard is good, and doing the right things is good, on and off the pitch. I understand nowadays everyone is different characters, and you have to work with people who might not think the same way you do, but I’m a big believer that you don’t change who you are. I will never change, I never have done. I’ll always be honest about what I believe in.”

Leadbitter’s attitude reflects his upbringing. Raised in Fencehouses, his work ethic is a product of the environment he was brought up in, both in terms of the prevailing attitude within the working-class village that was his home and the beliefs that were passed down by his family. He has also worked with some excellent managers and coaches during his career, picking up their dos and don’ts.

Ultimately, though, he feels the responsibility for carving out a successful career lies within. Had he not been a professional footballer, you suspect Leadbitter would have brought the same unwavering sense of duty to life as a plumber or teacher or whatever else took his fancy.

“The buck stops with me, it always has done,” he said. “You can put this down to this or that down to that, but really, you decide what you do and who you are.

“I’ve always been driven. People can say I’m distant, but I’m my own person. I always try to do to the best I can. I’ve taken a lot from different managers, coaches when I was a young player, but I’ve always known what I want. The next couple of years, I just want to be successful as I can be, so I can walk away a happy man.”

With that mindset, it is little wonder that Leadbitter has been seen as captaincy material throughout his career. He skippered Middlesbrough for the majority of his time at the Riverside, and while he barely kicked a ball under Tony Pulis in the first half of last season, speak to anybody at Boro’s Rockliffe Park training ground and they will confirm the extent of his impact within the dressing room right up to the moment when he opted to return to Sunderland.

When George Honeyman left the Black Cats earlier this summer, Leadbitter was an obvious choice of replacement. On the field, he proved his enduring value when he bossed things from the heart of midfield during Tuesday’s Carabao Cup win at Accrington Stanley. Off it, he is a shining example for those around him to follow.

“I want to be a successful captain,” he said. “I don’t want to fail. The staff have been here just over a year, and they’ve done some really good things because you have to remember where the club was at when they came in. The manager and the staff have come in, and personally I believe they’ve done a great job.

“Now, it’s up to us as players to take things forward. We know where we are, we’re building a new group of players, and we have to make sure we represent Sunderland AFC in the right way.”

The ‘right way’. Leadbitter’s way. And not a Facebook profile in sight.