There's never been completion in my football career because I've always been striving for that next thing. You listen to people who have finished and nothing replaces playing, but I'm still excited about not having to put my body through what I've put it through. And not feeling the disappointment that I feel.

He was a professional rugby player in the area that I played as a youngster. So a lot of people who I went to school with knew who he was and knew that he was black. So I would get racist taunts in school.

My dad played rugby, so I used to watch a lot of rugby union and rugby league.

A lot of people don't know that my father is black

Where does it stop? You get offered money for your wedding, then for your kids, new houses, holidays... We earn enough from football and sponsorships, why do you need any more?

Every one is special. Especially after the disappointment of last year, losing out on the last day, it is a great achievement by the lads.

Where I grew up, people obviously knew my dad because it's a small place and he was the top player for Swinton - they'd go and watch him play, see him in the papers, so they knew he was black.