I am certainly not the most talented player in the world; there's many a more talented player than me.

Footballers do get a hard time, and there is a lot of generalization going on. When you get to meet players and know them as lads, it's always a bit different.

I'm really happy here. I think anyone who knows me well, and the fans too I hope, they know that I love the area, and the bond that I've had with the fans has been fantastic.

I had a fear of losing, a fear of what might happen if I had a bad game. Would I get dropped? I don't remember a lot of stuff in my career.

The advantage does lie with us because we're at home and if we can't motivate ourselves for this match then we can't motivate ourselves for any match. I think the crowd will be up for it as well.

To be honest, I was Mum's boy. Always was, always will be.

My dad being a player. I was never that quick as a kid, so I had to get quicker. I trained hard. I was never that player who could roll out and relax, like Michael [ Owen] or Stevie [ Gerrard], who were natural.