I made so many mistakes when I was younger.

The jokes about how I look have actually made me stronger.

I've been promoted, relegated, won big trophies, gone months without scoring, played for my country at World Cups, been bought, sold, loaned, and called 'a freak.'

You should never get ahead of yourself car-wise; no Merc when you're still in the youth team, no Porsche unless you're a Premier League regular.

I once walked out of a nightclub with my team-mates to see our star midfielder reclining across the bonnet of a Ferrari, arms folded, waiting for girls to come out so he could wink at them and then progress it from there. I have no idea how long he'd been waiting. I do know it wasn't even his Ferrari.

Because of how I looked, there was definitely a prejudice against me. People didn't think I could play. I could see why: I weighed about eight stone and was six foot bleeding seven.

If you're different in any way at school,then you're going to get a bit of abuse. You learn to deal with it in a way where people don't come back at you again.

I didn't come from a council estate like a lot of the lads do.

People tend to assume I was terribly self-conscious about my height. In fact, I've always been perfectly comfortable with the way I am. And if anyone gave me any stick, they soon found I was quite capable of giving it back.

I'm very aware that you lead a very peculiar existence as a professional footballer, being flown everywhere first-class and never having to queue up for anything. Of course, that's attractive, but if you're not careful, you end up living in a world where nothing is really real.

I think it's helped me that I've always been very grounded, very down to earth. Lots of my friends are people I've known from school, and when I'm away from football, they're the ones who I knock about with.

I've played for England; I've been lucky enough to do this for a long time. So why can't you do it with a smile on your face?

If you go from being a kid at school to being on £60,000 a week, that can be hard to deal with. I didn't have that, and maybe that's kept me a bit more grounded than some players.

Looking around at the faces of the home support at Gillingham, the irony was never lost on me that these people had the cheek to call me a 'freak.' Perhaps they should have taken a look at themselves first.

I really enjoy tennis, but football's the game for me.

I know I can play, but people who haven't seen me and look at me on a football pitch think, 'He's tall, and he's there to head the ball.'

There's no hiding place for someone of my size.

Footballers are very superstitious.

When some kids get a sniff of the first team at a big club, you see them change. They can become big-time, especially so if they happen to be captain of the youth team.

I don't think I was ready for the Premier League until I was 24 at Southampton.

Analysing games on the TV is something that appeals to me, and anything where you watch football and get paid for it is not a bad living!

I can keep the ball and pass it, and I've always felt comfortable with the ball at my feet.

I've never asked for a transfer anywhere, but I've been constantly moving around. It's frustrating.

Some people have never fancied me, but there have been plenty others who have backed me.

It's nice when you can enjoy yourself and make people smile.

The lowest period was when I was with Tottenham, and they loaned me out to Dulwich Hamlet.

As for my personal ambitions, I always loved playing for England and always felt I did well.

I'm not the type of player that's going to run in behind or go past three and score.

I do a fantastic job for a living: I get to play in front of 90,000, and obviously, everyone knows your name and what have you. But I'm no better than anyone else.

I've always felt that, when I play, I have never let anybody down.

I am very proud of my goal record for England.

I don't know why, but playing for England, I always feel I am going to score.

Never give up, and always believe you can achieve something.

I'll be walking down the street with a mate, and someone will stop and say 'All right Crouchy, how's things?' and so on. Once they're gone, the person I'm with will say 'Do you know them?' and I'll say 'I've never met them before in my life'. Happens all the time.

There is one thing that I would really enjoy, and that is, of course, to get 100 Premier League goals.

Ever since I was a kid, I always wanted to score volleys.

I've always felt comfortable on the ball, and I don't know why people are so surprised when you can control it well. It's not a disability. It's just that I'm a bit taller than everyone else.

I'd hate to be the sort of player who people just regard as being tall and only good for winning headers.

It's difficult for anyone to regard a place in the England starting line-up as their own. There's always someone looking to get ahead of you, and that's how it should be.

I've never been renowned for electric pace. It doesn't seem to have held me back.

I thrive on quick players getting to the byline and sending over crosses. I just have to be quick enough to get on the end of things. In that regard, my job has always been the same, but if we have more wide, quick players, that can only be good for me.

At first, I was overwhelmed at moving up to international level, but the England lads are top class at making you feel welcome.

When I first started playing, the only time you knew you would get photographed was if the paparazzi were outside a smart restaurant in town.

In my opinion, whenever I've been given the opportunity to play, I've done well and scored goals, and that will continue to be the case.

The death of Cyrille Regis, a giant in so many ways, was such a shock and deeply upsetting.

When I started out, nobody told you how to do an interview. That's how I ended up on the front page of a newspaper dressed as Rodney Trotter with a Reliant Robin.

I came from a good family and a nice area, but I went to a rough state school.

It was only when I got to Tottenham as a youth player that they said, 'You need to be good in the air.' It was made clear I was going be a target man, so I had to start working on my technique.

Heading is a skill, and it would be a shame to lose that from the game. There is nothing more dramatic than when you see someone score a diving header, for instance.

There shouldn't be a stigma about age with footballers.