Jamie Vardy

“I got given a pair of Christmas socks with penguins on. They know you're obviously not going to wear them. I think they do it just to annoy you, to be honest.”

“There's a lot of people blocked on my Twitter for various reasons which I don't need to get into.”

“Every time I have stepped up a level, I wasn't expecting it to happen, but once it did, I just made sure I worked as hard as I possibly could to stay there.”

“Moving to Fleetwood was a shock to the system at first. I'd never been at a full-time club.”

“People keep asking me if I'm watching our rivals' games in the Premier League, but I'm usually on my PlayStation. If I had been watching, it would have been on an illegal stream, so I don't even know why they are asking me.”

“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.”

“After a Saturday game, we're in on a Sunday to cool down and make sure we're fully back at it again. But it doesn't really affect things too much. It's basically like you've had a game on the Saturday, and then you're in the cup on a Tuesday.”

“When I lived in Hungerford, it was wake up 5:30 A.M., get to the van at 6 A.M. with eight other blokes, drive to Shinfield, which is in Reading, 45 minutes away. Start at 7:30 A.M. to 4:30 P.M. with two half-hour breaks and then home. Train Tuesday and Thursday and then play on Saturday.”

“Just as I am working hard to adjust to a new level, someone comes along and asks me to move up again. I'm not complaining about it; I just get on with trying to make sure I don't let anyone down. Training with England is just a different gravy again. Movement-wise, finishing-wise, you can learn such a lot from watching the very best in action.”

“The best present I've ever given someone is myself. I've given it to everyone.”

“I don't really leave the house. Literally, I train, come home, look after the kids, the dogs, my missus... then it's time to go to bed.”

“If you're not playing with any confidence, then you're not going to play well at all. You've always got to have that inner confidence, and that comes with the goals.”

“When I was playing for the reserves, if you got a call-up you got a straight £30. I'd never been paid for football!”

“A friend got attacked outside a nightclub just for being deaf. I stuck up for him but ended up getting in a bit of a trouble myself. I played with a tag at Stocksbridge. I had a little curfew. Luckily, it didn't stop me playing football. Being put on a tag, I could have lost playing football again.”

“I like a drink and enjoy being Jack the Lad. I've had a few scraps and spent a night in a cell.”

“Obviously, when you're doing fitness work at a club all week and every week, it's all about specific drills for what you need to do on the pitch. So I'd be doing a different drill to the centre-midfielders. It's all specifically tailored for me. For example, my drills are high speed. It's all about trying to break the line with a sharp sprint.”

“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.”

“When I was living on my own, for a footballer it's easy to do the things that you're not supposed to, or not what the sport science team says. For example, if there's a packet of crisps, you're going to eat them. The same with a packet of sweets. Go to bed at a certain time? You're not going to if you're on your own.”

“In the changing-room, I'm seen as one of the jokers. I like to have a laugh; there are quite a few of us. That what helps make a good atmosphere in the changing-rooms. You've got to have a few jokers but obviously serious when the time comes.”

“There is only one thing I want to do here, and that is play football to the best of my ability. If I let things start distracting me, I'm not going to be able to do that, which will jeopardise the team as well.”