The England manager didn't think I was good enough, and as a professional, you have to take it. Sure, it was disappointing, but all you can do is carry on playing well for your club and hope it changes. Unfortunately, it didn't.

David Silva at Man City was my favourite player to play with; we had a good understanding on the pitch.

I'm never going to be seen as an attacking midfielder who's going to dribble past anyone, create untold chances, and score lots of goals, but going forward is something I've always enjoyed doing.

When I started my career, we were running around water parks and ridiculous things like that. You used to drive in dreading pre-season back then, but now you know it's going to be pretty tough, but it's going to be probably what you need. It's going to be good for you instead of just slogging away.

It's not really about the competition. Your biggest challenge in a race is yourself. You're often racing against time. You're frequently running everything through your mind. You're always competing against preconceived ideas. It's not really the person next to you that you worry about.

The stance I took was there is no room for racial bias anywhere in sports. I believe that was basically all I said about it. Certainly I was cast as an abolitionist. Death threats came. Hate mail came.

For a kid, self-esteem can be as close at hand as a sports victory or a sense of belonging in a peer group. It's a much more complicated and elusive proposition for adults, subject to the responsibilities and vicissitudes of grown-up life.

We live in a social world now, and there's no denying the power that Twitter has yielded across all verticals. Sports is a perfect fit because fans are highly emotionally charged and things happen quick.