Robbie Fowler

An image has stuck for most of my career and it isn't flattering.

I sometimes think I've needed a bit of an arm around me in my career - which I've not always got from certain managers and coaches who didn't understand me.

A goal is a goal no matter which end it goes in. I'm pleased to get off the mark again.

I don't want people losing respect for me as a player. I want to go out in every game and perform to the highest level. I have no retirement plans. I've had a lot of injuries but I want to continue playing.

I was a boy, suddenly treated like the men and expected to act like them.

Maybe if I'd not been able to kick a ball it would have been different, but I doubt it because all my mates are decent blokes now, just normal fellas with families.

If you pray enough for things, I am proof that they can happen. I feel like a kid on Christmas day now, every day. It's something I have wanted for a long time and I am as happy as anyone to be here. It is great to be back at my first love.

The treble parade would have been the most perfect moment of my footballing life, but for the two people standing behind me, clearly already plotting their next move.

After taking temporary charge last season he took us from looking down at the fringes of another relegation scrap, to within a kick of getting into Europe.

It sounds mercenary and it smacks of rats leaving the sinking ship. But get real, when everyone is bailing out, you don't want to be the last man standing.

It's inevitable now, because everyone is a superstar, even if they're just an average player, and maybe that was part of the process set in motion when I signed that contract in 1994.