"I do live with some regrets. I didn't set out to achieve what I wanted to achieve in the game," said Jermaine Jenas of his career on Saturday night.
Exactly what he had wanted to achieve, Jenas did not specify. The 35-year-old said he blames nobody but himself for his career trajectory.
"I stare in the mirror and I look at myself, it's things that I have to take on about what I didn't bring to the table.
"What it always boils down to is yourself. There were moments during my career where I just didn't do enough."
Though, he did mention some mitigating factors. There were persistent injuries along with having to compete with Frank Lampard for a place in the England midfield.
Intriguingly, he also spoke about how his standards after returning from England duty was always at a high level. Though, weeks after returning to Newcastle, they would return to "Newcastle level".
I always felt that when I came back from England, my levels went up. Then I could almost feel them dwindle as the weeks went on.
Training with England was at such an intense level and everyone wants to be in the team. I'd come back to Newcastle and I'd be up here, miles ahead of everybody.
Because the demand wasn't as high at Newcastle as it was with England, my standards just dropped and dropped and dropped gradually throughout the weeks until you brought yourself back to Newcastle level.
It was with Jenas's comments about how his standards dropped once he was back at Newcastle with which his former teammate Alan Shearer took issue.
On behalf of me and my teammates at the time, we apologise @jjenas8 for not being up to your level when you returned from England games!!?🤣🤣 https://t.co/hS2f68Pj6t
— Alan Shearer (@alanshearer) March 4, 2018
You can watch Jermaine Jenas speaking on BT Sport below.
"I didn't achieve what I set out to achieve."
"I don't blame anybody, I look at myself, I do live with regrets..."
An open and brutally honest @jjenas8 discusses his career.#PLTonight pic.twitter.com/Hvpv4kYRqO— Football on BT Sport (@btsportfootball) March 3, 2018
