I never take free kicks because it's not my job.

It's a gift to be offered the opportunity to play the World Cup.

I'm not a hypocrite and I'm a transparent person.

To continue playing late into your twenties in the same style that you once played as a teenager is not possible.

People say that Rooney could have been like Lionel Messi, a more prolific goalscorer who dribbles past opponents more. But they are different characters. You will never see Messi snapping around the heels of an opponent to win the ball back deep in his own half. Wayne does that all the time, and sometimes that enthusiasm will count against him.

As a finisher, there are few players as composed as Messi. When you can score as many different kinds of goal as he can, you have every reason to be confident.

Modern managers have a lot of demands on them, and many feel, with justification, that they do not have the time to commit to watching the junior sides.

Playing in attack is difficult. You are under scrutiny, and you have to be able to deal with that.

United fans don't care if the team only has 40 per cent possession as long as they are watching an attacking team. My experience was that the supporters understood that even our best teams, even the teams with Peter Schmeichel or Edwin van der Sar in goal, were going to concede goals.

In my world, the dressing room was sacrosanct. The only time anyone was permitted to take pictures in there was when we had won a trophy.

OK, so I never had a transfer in my career, but I used to love deadline day: Dimitar Berbatov turning up at Manchester airport with hours to go, Robinho coming to Manchester City instead of Chelsea.

To go and watch Manchester United, whether it's home or away, is entertainment; it's goals - whether you concede goals or whether you can score goals.

Saturday afternoon is the hardest thing. I can go out and watch games, but I'm constantly on my phone looking at results: what score is this, what score is that. You have no real involvement, but you're obsessed with it.

To beat opposing teams, you have to attack, and to attack, you have to take risks.

In the periods of my career when I stopped passing the ball forward or when I stopped looking for the risky pass that might open up a defence, the consequences were the same. The manager stopped picking me. I got back into the team when I went back to doing it the way he wanted.

It's the thing I miss about football, I suppose: being with the team day-in day-out, getting a team ready for a Saturday afternoon, or getting yourself ready for a Saturday afternoon - it's the most difficult part.

I knew the shirt-swapping business in general was getting out of hand when opponents would ask me for my shirt while we were still mid-match. Those are the wrong priorities.

My view is that you show Messi one side or the other, and if he goes past you, he goes past you. But if he slips it through your legs, then you have to obstruct him and take the foul. Just don't ever let yourself be nutmegged.

Let me tell you what it is like playing against Messi. You are up against a footballer who can take the ball either side of you, and you have no idea which side that might be from any hint about his body-shape.

We played 63 games in the treble-winning season of 1999, and I cannot remember feeling tired once. We won the league title with the last game of the season, and along the way, we knew that in any game we could miss out on this chance of a lifetime to win all three. We had 22 players who were ready to be called on at any moment.

The end of a career comes to us all, and there is not a lot you can do about that.

The first time I retired, only Sir Alex Ferguson and I knew that the last league game of the 2010-11 season against Blackpool was to be my final game at Old Trafford. I was a little bit sad, but I am not one for tears. The end of a career comes to us all, and there is not a lot you can do about that.

All good players need to be appreciated.

In my years at United, I witnessed some signings who, over their careers, transformed the fortunes of the team. From Eric Cantona, when I was an apprentice, to Dwight Yorke, Ruud van Nistelrooy, and Wayne Rooney. These were great footballers who became great United players.