Peter Crouch

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.

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.

I'm not the type of player that's going to run in behind or go past three and score.

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.

I thrive on quick players getting to the byline and sending over crosses. I just have to be quick enough to get on the end of things. In that regard, my job has always been the same, but if we have more wide, quick players, that can only be good for me.

For whatever reason, I have got a few goals against Arsenal, so I do enjoy playing against them.

There is one thing that I would really enjoy, and that is, of course, to get 100 Premier League goals.

I am very proud of my goal record for England.

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.

There's no hiding place for someone of my size.

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 have really got into watching the unsigned bands. They play mad venues like the Sugarmill in Stoke and all sorts of underground, grimy places.