James Milner

“For me, if you play at Anfield, it is not a tactical game.”

“I was going to a good club in Newcastle and working with an unbelievable manager in Bobby Robson. It was the best for Leeds, and in the end, it worked out well for me as well.”

“As a professional, you want to get as much as you can out of your career, play at the top level, and win trophies. Playing with top players at Manchester City, I've got a great chance of doing that, and I just want to keep improving.”

“When a new manager comes in, you have to prove yourself all over again. That's what you have to do every day and keep your standards high.”

“I was a wicket-keeper who opened the batting. Could I have made it? Hard to say. I probably wouldn't quite have been good enough. I might get back into it once I've finished with the football.”

“It's an unbelievable achievement to win the FA Cup. I've been lucky to win it before, and I'd love to win it again.”

“I think the first time I had to play at left-back was at Manchester United in the Europa League.”

“Fitness has always been a strength of mine. People seem to look at ages and think once you get over 30, you're coming to the end. I'd like to think I've got a number of years left in me. I feel really good, and that's down to the great work the staff at the club do looking after us and the facilities we have.”

“What Liverpool do really well is they try to get you inside but then close you down.”

“I remember Nigel Martyn joking with me at Leeds, saying he was old enough to be my father, which he certainly was.”

“Losing a cup final is massively disappointing, but you can accept it if you play to your potential.”

“I don't think I'd like to be that guy who does disrupt training. I always feel the team comes first, and that's the way it is, and me being a disruptive influence, because I'm not playing, doesn't help the team.”

“At a club like City, there are things in the papers and talk all the time. Ever since I've been a footballer, I have coped with that.”

“I remember my dad ringing me up and giving me my GCSE results when I was at Thorp Arch for pre-season training. A month later, I was playing in the first team. It was pretty amazing, really. I think if you stopped and thought about it at the time, it would have hit you.”

“Newcastle was tough - the manager who'd signed me, Bobby Robson, got sacked three games into the season, so a new manager arrived, and I ended up going on loan again, to Aston Villa.”

“It's not like I'm against alcohol. It's just a decision I made, and if you've never had it, you don't miss it. I've been drenched in champagne a few times over my career. I might have a drink if England win the World Cup. That's one moment where I might.”

“I never really got that chance at Manchester City and developed into a utility player. Playing in all the positions has made me a better player because it's not easy to do that. Understanding the game has made me a more rounded player as well.”

“I want to play as much football as I can.”

“I remember my first Christmas with Leeds, training Christmas Day. I wasn't old enough to drive yet - so I had to get picked up and taken in!”

“You are a long time retired. I don't want to sit there when that happens and think, 'Oh, I wish I had done that better'. I just think everything I can do, that is always the way that I have been. I don't want to have any regrets.”