If people are going to write bad things about me because it makes news, I can brush it aside because I've had this for 10 years. I'm big enough and strong enough to cope with it. It's what comes with being Alan Shearer.

If you ask footballers to pick out the player they most admire, so many of them will pick Paul Scholes. His passing and shooting is of the highest level and he’s the most consistent and naturally gifted player we’ve had for a long, long time.

First is first. That's the way I was brought up. Second or third are nowhere.

I always practise penalties, but what people don't understand is that you can never recreate that pressure situation that you're under.

I've never wanted to leave. I'm here for the rest of my life, and hopefully after that as well.

The FA Cup means a lot. There is a real passion here for the competition which you don't get elsewhere. It's a love affair. It's part and parcel of living up here. People might think I'm daft, but I'm not wrong; I'd rather win the Cup than the League.

I've got two girls. I like to play golf. Apart from that there's not a lot goes on in my life. So I am boring, aren't I?