I was proper, proper fast at one point, and obviously I'm not now, so I've lost certain things, but when I was that fast I didn't need to do certain other things in a game. It was such a potent weapon.

All Newcastle fans need to know is that I will be giving everything for their cause now.

I remember running around the park as a kid and pretending, shouting out 'Michael Owen in the cup final. He scores!' To actually fulfil that dream when you're older and score two goals made it just a magical day.

If you look at football over the last 50 years there has been a gradual decrease in goals, you don't see too many 10-nils these days, but two, three or four goals per game is a good spectacle.

While the World Cup is great every four years, I think people struggle to get themselves excited about qualifiers against the smaller nations. It will take some good performances from the national team to get the feel-good factor back, as far as the England team goes at least.

The longer my career has gone, the more I seem to score... It's experience and age and knowing where the ball's going to be.

Manchester United will always be a competitor, just because of the very size of them.