Overview
- He publicly identified himself in new interviews, ending long-running speculation over the anonymous Guardian column and five books.
- He explains he wrote under a pseudonym to process concerns about the game and to protect his playing career.
- He says the work caused severe anxiety because being unmasked could have led to him being sacked and ostracised.
- He claims the revelations helped drive reforms at high levels in football, even though he now expresses regret about undertaking the project.
- He criticises Stoke City’s culture under Tony Pulis as a regimented “dictatorship” and reflects on a difficult £5.5m move that preceded his writing.