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Right from school, I got mockery for the way I look. I took it to heart early on. I admit there were times when I doubted myself.
The Championship is a ferocious league, physically demanding, and it simply does not allow players the luxury of cruising through.
Kevin Muscat scared me. You know, people would say 'I'm going to break your legs' - when he would say it, you genuinely believed him.
I once bought an ill-advised half cashmere, half camel hair jumper for £800, then ruined it by spilling a pint of Guinness all over it.
I wouldn't want to get my pigeon chest out in front of anyone. I don't think the world needs it. I'd probably get a yellow card anyway.
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.
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.'
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!
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.
I was a million miles from being a Premier League player. You see some people, at 18 they are ready. At 21, I wasn't. Physically nowhere near.
Playing for my country is the pinnacle of anyone's career. There's a major tournament coming up so I'm looking forward to being a part of that.
I'd like to think I'm an approachable fella, and if someone wants me to pose for a picture, I'll always say 'yes' even when I'm with my family.
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 have really got into watching the unsigned bands. They play mad venues like the Sugarmill in Stoke and all sorts of underground, grimy places.
I wouldn't be here if I didn't believe I was good enough to be here and hopefully I can perform well for my club and try and get to the World Cup.
I did a paper round as a kid, but the early mornings were too much. My dad took it over, so I was getting paid 15 quid a week, but he was doing it!
There is one thing you must know about Marko Arnautovic if you want to understand what makes him tick: he believes he's the best player in the world.
In this age of social media, it is easy to punch out a phrase 'thoughts are with the family' when something bad occurs, and at times, it is insincere.
I don't know why, but if I was walking down the street, the same people who called me freak would probably ask for a picture. It's a real strange thing.
I'll have an omelette, porridge, and fruit for breakfast at the training ground, then chicken, pasta and soup for lunch; then I can relax in the evening.
Nothing can prepare you fully for how harsh football fans can be, but it makes you more robust, able to deal with a lot of what is thrown at you in life.
Even when I was at the top, playing in the Champions League final for Liverpool and playing at the World Cup for England, I've never let it go to my head.
My dad got me my first pair of boots. It was a big occasion for us to go to the shopping centre. It was an exciting time to make sure you got the right ones.
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.
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 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 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.'
The kit man is the heartbeat of the football club, really. He knows the lads. He's usually local, a fan, and he's got his finger on the pulse of the dressing room.
I' ve got quite narrow feet and they are size 12. I would sometimes get blisters when I was younger but fortunately I don t have much trouble with my feet nowadays.
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.
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.
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 got a good record, but maybe, for whatever reason, it's not built up by people. I wouldn't say I'm hard done by. But it's true that I sometimes don't get the praise.
When I was a kid, the FA Cup was the one: it was bigger than the European Cup, even. So to win that, for me, and my dad as well - we used to watch it together - was brilliant.
I got booed by my own fans when I came on in my first game for England. You go through things that are ridiculous. But you get to the stage you realise everyone's got an opinion.
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.
I've got my own targets... To establish myself in the team and once you are a regular for Liverpool then England, recognition comes from that and hopefully this will prove the case.
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.
Everyone that I have taken the mick out of, or told a story about, is someone I know properly or someone who has been a team-mate, and I know can take it. I am not stitching anyone up.
A little voice keeps telling me an Aston Martin really isn't me, but a louder voice is telling me that, as an England international playing for Liverpool, the old rules no longer apply.
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.
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.
Ronaldo, the Brazilian one - incredible player. I met him once. I was in Ibiza on holiday and quite by chance ran into him in a club. He's the only man I'd go up to and ask for a picture. And I did.
The first pair of boots I remember owning were Puma Spiders - I still have them in a cupboard at home! They were fantastic boots. I was nine-years-old and I scored about 70 goals with them in a season.
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 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 can understand why people laugh and make jokes, but I'm comfortable with being this tall. It's not as if I've had a sudden growth spurt. I've always been like this, so I get used to the constant height references.
If I played badly as a kid, my dad would tell me, and my mum would say, 'You were brilliant today'. It's nice to have both: when I need a bit of confidence, I'll see her, and if I need to hear it straight, I'll see my dad.
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.
Des Bulpin discovered me and, along with my dad, would be the biggest influence on my career. I remember him telling me when I was 15 that Jermain Defoe and I would play together for England when we were older, and he hasn't been too far wrong.