Glenn Murray

My wife is from Brighton so I got a bit of stick for going to Palace even though in my first three-and-a-half years at Brighton I didn't actually face them. So I don't think I completely understood the rivalry.

I'm an out-and-out striker. It's my job to hold the ball up, to get in the box and to score goals. And, yes, I keep count.

The lowest point in my non-league career came when I was a teenage substitute for Workington Reds in a game at Blyth Spartans, and some kids started throwing eggs at me and the other subs when we were warming up.

I've had many strike partners over the years and usually their aim is to outscore you - and take great pleasure in doing so.

I'm never going to be one of these players who dribbles past three and bends it into the top corner from 25 yards. That's not me.

It just wasn't the right fit at Bournemouth. I wasn't suited to their style.

It was good I left Brighton on a high, like I left Palace on a high but whether Carlisle to Rochdale or Brighton to Palace, as soon as I left that chapter was closed.

I've only ever moved on when I've not been wanted. Experience has told me, when your time's up, you have to go. Don't get me wrong, I've enjoyed my time at all the clubs I've been at, and they've all got a special place in my heart.

I am taking each game as it comes, enjoying it and taking that little bit of extra time to look around a full stadium, because I know it's not going to last forever. But I will try and make it last as long as possible.

When I was young, I would dwell on games and beat myself up about a result. I would lock myself away in the house, almost punishing myself and those around me.

The space between keepers and defenders is referred to as the 'corridor of opportunity' - a well-hit pass in there has the goalie questioning whether to come into traffic and defenders unsure of whether or where to clear the ball.

It was through the Hammerheads that I got a route into the professional game, via a trial at Sunderland from Mick McCarthy and then an invitation to come back to Carlisle in 2004.

Players want a manager you feel in your gut you want to play for - they can have the best tactics and philosophy in the world but if you have lost a player in his heart or head, you have lost him in every other department.

I can remember playing for Carlisle and just running around like a headless chicken telling the others boys not to worry, that I'd do their running for them. I was just so eager and so keen and desperate to be a footballer that I did that.

The archetypal No. 10 is a skillful player who is more interested in being in possession than tracking to get the ball back.

Rather than just sit there, I would prefer to get out and play football. Brighton have let me do that.

When I left Carlisle United for the first time at the age of 16 in 2000, I hated football.

I grew up desperate to be a professional footballer and I was willing to do anything to be one.

I need balls put in the box and I need chances to be created for me.

I want to continue to play and score as many goals as possible for as long as possible.