If you feel a bit aggrieved or hard done by, you probably need the break just to reset yourself and give yourself time for different learning - to get out there and experience different things.

In my last years, I was conscious how I used to play the game when I first broke through. It was absolute chalk and cheese. I probably finished at the right time. There won't be many players like me in the future.

I suddenly thought, if I was going to make a go of it, I was going to have to look after myself and not keep apologising for knocking people over. That transformed my career.

The four and a half years I had at Stoke is something I will always look back on with pride because it was a huge achievement. To be able to last in a high profile job as long as I did showed that, for the most part, I did a decent job there.

I only ever met Ronaldinho once, at a charity event in Rio. Once every year, he stages a game and invites different players and personalities to play and raise money for his charity.

I've signed with major labels, and I haven't had any control over the money.

I have a massive guilt thing about money.

But as you say, the fundamental stumbling block is the question of the future of the economy. And it's not just the sort of economic laboratory question, of what kind of system would best generate growth, which is the way it's presented.