TROY DEENEY

When the world's moving towards being the most inclusive it's ever been, it's unthinkable that certain basic aspects of life are still so unfair for the black community.

My dad was diagnosed with cancer of the oesophagus in February 2012, and finding that out really messed me up.

It would have been great to play for England but it is not something I have lost sleep over.

We're all humans - people make mistakes.

There's so much negativity over this issue of dual nationality - nearly always from people who don't have mixed family backgrounds and don't understand that it's perfectly natural for those of us who do, to feel loyalty to more than one country.

I just got a lot of expectations and pressure on me, but it is what it is. I've got the best job in the world, I work two or three hours a day and get paid handsomely for it.

I'm just a normal kid, really, from an inner-city background.

Do I give up? No.

How many women's football matches are selling out week in, week out, 20,000 plus? They're not.

I'm genuinely a big softie, I put this front on, and I'm just a laid-back fool really.

You don't appreciate the level of the Premier League until you are there.

When I was 15, Aston Villa offered me a trial for four days. In those days, I was more interested in making mischief and I didn't even turn up until the fourth day and then they sent me packing because they said I wasn't dedicated enough.

I don't mind women's football. I am of the business understanding though, when people say 'it should be equal pay.' If the business makes sense, it does.

If I play at Wembley and score I will be a hero, but I am still normal Troy, making mistakes and trying to learn and improve on a day-to-day basis.

If I scroll down my Instagram replies, the tenth one down features a racist emoji - which is not unusual. So I follow the protocol, which is to block the user and report the message under the category of 'hate speech and symbols.' Then I am told that an emoji with a monkey and a banana is not considered racist.

None of my friends are big posters - we're old school. We text, phone and meet up and have a beer or have a curry.

People are soft. The whole world is. That's why you have to be careful what you say, careful what you post, careful what you wear.

At Walsall I got away with a lot of things because I was the young star and they wanted to sell me from a business point of view.

Whenever I play against Arsenal - and this is just a personal thing - I go up and think 'let me whack the first one, then we will see who wants it.'

Whenever you play against Fred - we certainly did it - you let him get it because he has to take three or four touches. He doesn't know how to do one or two touches. Anyone that watches his game, he gets it facing the wrong way, turns, turns, chops, chops and he'll give you the ball three or four times a game.

My dad had always worked hard to make sure that I had nice stuff and he died at 47 so I just want to make sure that if something like that happens to me, my son would have everything ready.

Going back to 2012, it was a bad year for me. I lost my dad as well, so burying him a week before I went to jail, just having all of that emotion, it just hit me hard.

I'm just a regular person. I treat every person the same. I like to think that I'm respectful. I'm honest with everybody. Sometimes it gets me in trouble, sometimes it doesn't, but I'll always speak my mind.

I play for Watford, it's not the biggest team in the Premier League, but I go to Antigua, I go to different countries and people go 'you're Troy Deeney.'

There's always going to be setbacks.