Sometimes going in for a hard tackle generates a louder cheer than a great pass.

There is another side to me which people don't often see, but it's very hard for me to show that. When I do interviews, I'm talking to people I don't know and when you speak to a stranger you don't open up, do you? In my position, people are always looking for something to say about me. And anything I do say, given half-a-chance they'll turn it round into something spectacular so I've got to be very careful. That's why it's only my friends and family who know the real me. Now my wife, Lainya, she could tell you a few stories.

If you ask footballers to pick out the player they most admire, so many of them will pick Paul Scholes.

You should always give 100%. If you do that then no-one can ask any more of you. Someone once said to me when I was a kid: 'If you're asked to do ten sprints, by all means do 11 but never do nine because you're only cheating yourself'.

Andy Carroll will cause anyone problems and I don't see a problem in that

There was a big possibility that I would have had to leave Newcastle had Ruud Gullit stayed as manager.

Nothing's black or white in our country - you're either brilliant or you're hopeless