You hear players in the past say that it's just a job for them, but for me, it is nothing like that. I literally wish I could play football every day.

Competition for places can only benefit you. If you know you've got that much competition, then you're just going to have to work that extra bit harder so you can catch the gaffer's eye.

No one can take their place or their England shirt for granted. If I want to be in that squad, I need to keep banging in the goals to make sure I stay in the manager's plans.

The word 'racist' is a permanent stain against my name. It's worse than a criminal record. Some people will never forgive me. Others will accept I made a terrible mistake and recognise I have learnt from it. It's on YouTube when my kids type in their dad's name, and it comes up 'Jamie Vardy racist'. On Google, too. It's horrible.

For me to stay in basketball, it would just have to be a veteran team.

My dad grew up wrestling. He knew Ken Shamrock, and I didn't know who he was at the time. So, he found out that Shamrock was in a gym in Reno, and he wanted me to go try a class with him. I tried it and fell in love the first day. Ken told me that I had potential in this sport, and he's the reason I kept at it.

All I dreamed of when I became a footballer was to play for a club as big as Real Madrid. It's maybe the most famous and best club in the history of football.

It's so much nicer to be able to do your job with someone who's helping you, and you're helping them. Then, it becomes a tennis match where you're hitting the ball back and forth, and you're a team.