Brian McDermott

If you ask me why I've succeeded, it's because I was in the Royal Marines. You have this unbelievable sense of achievement and of overcoming adversity. That's the confidence it breeds.

People ask me about my interests outside football, but I haven't really got any.

It's really important how you say things because people won't necessarily remember what words you used, but they'll remember how you made them feel.

My parents are Irish, my grandparents are Irish, my great-grandparents are Irish. I was born in England; my blood is Irish.

I love music, from shanty sea-songs to Calvin Harris.

I don't believe in an 'all-about-me' culture. It's about the group.

Sometimes you have got to look at things really positively - without putting your head in the sand, you have got to manage the negatives and keep putting a positive slant on it, keep trying to find answers.

I can't go against my nature because I am what I am. I don't try to be anyone different to who I am.