Quotes from Adebayo Akinfenwa

I am not a small guy - I will be the first to say it.

If you have a love for something, you persevere.

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

I was asked to go in a banana suit once or eat as many doughnuts as possible. I would not do those things. I don't eat doughnuts so why would I eat 20.

During my career I've come back to clubs after the summer break to see one of my team-mates not really at it because he's been denied a move to a bigger club for whatever reason, and you can see in his body language that he doesn't want to be there and that kind of thing is massively disruptive and negative.

People only see what they want to see and sometimes you can't do anything about that, so you just pick up the baton and you just run with it.

As you go through your career you learn what works for you and what doesn't and you pick things up with experience.

Sometimes I think it would be nice to be in a warm office every day. Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining because I know how lucky I am to be playing football for a living. The positives by far outweigh the negatives.

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

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

I'm not one of those players who always gets to games or watches every game on TV. If a game is on and I'm free, I'll watch it but I won't make my schedule around a football match.

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.

When I look back at my career it is nice to know that I've been appreciated on and off the pitch because not everyone is.

I like being the biggest on the pitch, I don't want to look at the other guys and think his arms are bigger than mine.

People said I'm too big to play football.

You play football to go out there and win - that's the bottom line.

As long as I am feeling good I will play football. As long as I am feeling fit, strong and being affective on and off the pitch, I will play the game I love.

As players we have to be careful what we put out there and make sure everything we do is appropriate. And it is not always easy.

I've been in football a long time now and I've seen plenty of managers and players come and go. It is part and parcel of the game.

Let me clear something up: I don't like KFC. Or McDonald's.

I want to be playing competitive first-team football every week and not reserve team football.

People may laugh or whatever, but my strength is something that I have to work on. It's not something that just happens overnight, it takes dedication and hard work and it has a purpose as it helps me every week on the pitch.

People said: 'You're too big to play football,' but I kept playing and it just happened that people have caught on to me and taken to me. The nicest thing I get from it is that I can be myself and people seem to like it.

More than anything I prefer the ball on the floor. I think I play my best football on the floor. There is a delicacy to this big giant.