Joey Barton: "For me, this is the best period of my career.
"Nobody expected me to still be playing at the top level.
"People have had problems in football, but they've been through nowhere near as much crap as I put myself through.
"They never came back from it. Ideally, I didn't want to go through what I did, but I always had a great belief in my ability.
"I've said on numerous times how good I believed I was. This team here has given me the opportunity to facilitate it, and so has Chrissy Hughton.
"He's seen something in me and he believes, as he does with all the other players. We've got a good squad.
"Our reserves is full of young kids, and we haven't got a massive squad, but what we have got is quality. Anyone on the bench at Arsenal could have gone in and turned in a performance.
"It's not just about the XI. It's the 17 players on a match day, and it's about everybody in the squad who aren't playing. That quality from the 17 or 18 players we have is vital.
"We're not like Arsenal or anybody else who have 25 or 26 first-class players.
"We need to build on it, but anybody we bring into the squad will have to buy into it – the work ethic and playing for each other.
"If you don't, then the lads won't accept you. When I first came to this football club, we didn't have it.
"We had a lot of egos and players who were playing for themselves. We play as a team now."