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I was heavily into sport from 10 to 15, I was in all the teams, and it was everything to me. But I was very young for my school year and when puberty kicked in for my classmates I got left behind.

I wasn't a jock in school, and by the 10th grade, when I was in boarding school I was carrying water buckets for the girls' hockey team. I was the kid with long hair and glasses and acne trying to learn how to play guitar and piano in the music center. I was not an athlete past the age of 13 or 14 when they start throwing the ball really fast.

I would have been about seven years old when the formative years of my competitive football education began. I was playing in the local leagues around Manchester, playing against lads from tough areas who had been taught they had to fight for everything.

I played all kinds of sports when I was young: tennis, handball, basketball, some soccer. I focused on basketball when I was 16 or 17 and then came to the U.S. when I was 20.

I had 10 to 12 close buddies who I played ball with all the way from elementary to high school. That is where I learned to compete.

Ever since I was young, I played sports.

I only started concentrating on football as a career when I left school at 18. I played golf for the Scottish and British boys' teams.

I started playing football young, and my career was on the pitch.

I come from a very sporting family and played many sports as a lad.