Your first England game was…

The Under-15s against Northern Ireland.

Any particular memories?

I came on for the last 15 minutes, it was 0-0 and I didn’t see a lot of action, but it was great to play my first match for England.

Was it different playing for your country?

Yes, playing for England at any level is different. As you keep taking steps up, the build-up gets a bit bigger, but playing abroad and hearing the national anthem before the match makes a difference.

Who were your football heroes back then?

I loved watching Ian Wright play, Stan Collymore at Nottingham Forest and Robbie Fowler too, I was a big fan of his.

When you were coming through at Forest, did any of the first team watch your progress?

Yes, Forest was always good for that. Chris Bart-Williams was pretty good to me. With him being a fellow midfielder it was good of him to take an interest and he helped me out.

Have you always been a midfielder?

I started off playing for my local side as a forward. When I went to Forest I was playing in midfield. Then Paul Hart saw something else in me and stuck me at centre-half. He said it was going to benefit my progress and add another string to my bow, so I played centre-half for a season. In my second year I was put back in midfield, and then I got into the first team.

Did playing in defence benefit your game?

Definitely. It toughened me up. In that position there’s nowhere to hide, you’ve got to win headers and tackles. It developed my reading of the game, so it was good.

Maybe one day you could play at sweeper?

It depends. I love playing midfield at the minute. I like going forward, so it’s difficult to look that far ahead. If there was a role to play at sweeper when I’m older I’d be happy to do it.

Did coming through the system help you acclimatise when you made the full squad?

When you keep making that step up within the system it feels great, but it feels the same, to a certain extent. A lot of people who work at The FA work with a few of the England teams so you see the same faces around. But when you take that step into the first team and there is a new manager, it’s very different. There were a few nerves there, but I just kept thinking about getting out on the pitch.

Looking back, your debut against Australia in 2003 was an unusual game…

The team didn’t play particularly well in the first half and the manager changed the whole team for the second half. I was put on the left wing at first. I enjoyed it and set up a goal for Francis Jeffers.

And you were man of the match…

Yes, I’ve still got the bottle of champagne sitting at home in the cupboard.

Ever going to open it?

No! 

Your first competitive start was out in Azerbaijan. How was that?

Very unusual. The conditions were horrendous, the wind, the rain, the cold, but these are the things you have to endure when you’re an international player. We got the victory we needed and it was good to get my first competitive England start.

What did Sven-Göran Eriksson say to you before that game in Azerbaijan?

He pulled me over the night before and told me I was going to be starting. He said I had been training well and it hadn’t gone unnoticed. I was delighted to be handed the shirt.

Sven seems like a calming presence in those situations…

Yes, he has a massive calming influence on everything. When you’re an England player, you see the press build up the game massively, but he always seems to take control and get us playing football.

When you first joined the England squad, did you watch certain players in training?

To start off with, yes. Early on, I used to watch a lot of Paul Scholes. I was a big admirer and I was disappointed when he retired from international football. Now I’ve been in the squad a few times, I just go in and start concentrating on getting the results we want to get us to the World Cup.

You’ve skippered Newcastle in Alan Shearer’s absence. How’s that been?

It was a good experience for me. But now that I’m not captain, I’d like to think I can still be a leader, even without the armband.

How would you describe the life of a footballer?

It’s enjoyable, you have to work very hard, but you have good standard of life. It’s what you dream of when you’re younger.

Do you think the fans think it’s easier than it is?

Definitely. They think we have a lot of time on our hands and I don’t think they see the pressures. Sometimes people are able to have a dig at you, your family can get brought into it and you just have to accept it. It goes a lot deeper than people think.