"I DECIDED TO LAY A MARKER ON TEVEZ AT OLD TRAFFORD.IT DIDN'T SEEM TO BOTHER HIM TOO MUCH..."

The former defender talks the art of tackling, proving the doubters wrong, making Alex Ferguson angry and winning the League Cup with Birmingham

- Mark Sanderson

Who were your heroes, growing up?

Being a footballer is the dream for many boys and girls - I was no different. My dad used to work near Loftus Road, so despite having Arsenal and Palace fans in the family, my team were QPR. It was the ’90s, so you could still buy tickets on the door on a matchday. My heroes then were Ray Wilkins and Sir Les Ferdinand - I'd often try to copy his amazing leap for headers by jumping into the pool on summer holidays.

Were you always destined to become a footballer? It started well, winning the FA Youth Cup with Aston Villa...

If I'm honest, there were probably 50 better players in my age group. While I may not have been the quickest or the most skilful, I put in the hard yards to improve and I enjoyed proving people wrong. The FA Youth Cup final win over Everton was my first taste of success. They had Wayne Rooney, who was just frightening - we were shown a clip of him scoring against Spurs from near the halfway line. After that win, a few of us, like me and Steven Davis, were skirting around the edges of the Villa first team.

The man who handed you your Villa debut in 2003 was the first of several international managers you worked with - what do you remember of it?