Quotes

Gym sessions will always consist of 40 minutes to one-hour cardio. I try to stay off the treadmill because of the pounding, so it's the rower or the cross-trainer.

Beast Mode On is a state of mind. Beast Mode is about applying yourself and defying the limitations people put on you.

I was always a big guy. You see my family - my brothers are the same size.

My old boss Aidy Boothroyd is a great man and I've got no malice or anything toward him.

It used to get my back up because people would only say 'he does well for his size' and it's like, forget the size, I do well because I do well.

Of course I know I am not the average footballer. But I'd be lying if I said I set out to be different, I didn't set out to go against the grain.

There ain't nobody going to run me out of nowhere.

My favourite chant is 'you're just a fat Eddie Murphy.' When I heard that I could not stop laughing. I would prefer a 'muscular Eddie Murphy.'

I'm going to say it out loud: I'm available for England selection if they serve chicken for pre-match.

I've had three or four Scottish Premier League clubs contact me about going there and doing something. A couple of those clubs couldn't be further away from London so I'd have to seriously think about it, but it's nice to be sought after and nice to be wanted.

Liverpool are not used to playing a 16-and-a-half stone striker.

As a footballer I know what I'm good at and I've now embraced it.

There was a long period when I was younger where people always talked about my size and I was going 'but look, I can play, though, I can play' but you look at it, to have a career, 12-13 years, you've got to be more than just a brute.

My career and my stats, they all speak for itself so to say that I've got anything to prove to people, to say 'well, look, I can play, I'm not just a big guy,' that really is not my driving force in life.

John Barnes was my idol growing up and he's the reason I've supported Liverpool. I play nothing like him, though!

That's one reason fans take to me. They like the battle side of it. They look at me and think this guy shouldn't be on the pitch, he's just bulldozing his way through.

Sometimes it's nice to be a bit different.

My arms are probably the same size as John Terry's legs.

When you've only got two days between games the recovery process is key.

Like individuals in all walks of life, footballers want stability and we have families to look after.

In my younger days, sometimes family and personal life came second to my ambition.

I'm a big believer in not getting too high when you are winning and not getting too low when things aren't going well.

Playing on Sky Sports doesn't really make a difference to me.

You see it all the time, in all divisions, that teams raise themselves and apply themselves that little bit more when they play a 'bigger team.'

As I've said before, I'm a big fan of social media because it allows players and fans to interactive but it can have its pitfalls.