There's never been completion in my football career because I've always been striving for that next thing.

Looking at me from the outside, it is not very obvious, I know half my family is black and I feel close to their culture and their color.

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.

I had an early taste of fame. I was 20, going out with TV presenter Dani Behr and we'd have paparazzi chasing us. I'm not comfortable being photographed, though I accept it is part of the job. I had to ask myself, 'What comes first, being a celebrity or footballer?

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.

I do not wish to hide my origins, nor do I seek to make it a subject of conversation. I am what I am.

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?