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.