Jayne,
You may be experiancing problems with the pushrod indeed, so get it cleaned and greased and back on, properly adjusted. If you feel the cable is on its way ou, get a replacment or at least dribble some oil down it overnight
A bike left standing can suffer problems with clutch plate material going bad, maybe the steel plates have suffered corrosion? Its not a difficult job to replace the plates and springs, you can get an EBC set with slightly stronger springs, but thre is no real need.
You might like to try replacing the oil before delving into the clutch itself