PAUL Ince had his shirt that he couldn’t put on until out of the tunnel, Laurent Blanc used to kiss Fabien Barthez’s bald head and I have too many pre-match rituals to mention.

Superstitions are so weird but for me, it helps mentally and I wouldn’t be without them.

I have always had them, even back to when I was playing Sunday league, I used to put my sock and boots on left foot first.

Some people don’t need them and do their own thing but if I don’t do it, it makes such a difference to my performances.

Even when I am at home, I have to have my right food. The night before a game I have to have certain foods, especially if I am playing at home. My partner has to cook my food for me and every little thing has to be right or I’ll feel, heading into a game, that we won’t play well or we won’t win.

So, on a Friday night before a home game, I have chicken and pesto pasta, unless we’re away from home.

When you’re on the road, as we will be this weekend when we travel to Morecambe, usually it’s the same sort of food nearly every week.

You’ll have you’re chicken, you’ll have your pasta, your rice and a bit of mascarpone sauce, which I’ve had ever since I started playing professional football.

When it comes to a matchday, I don’t get ready until half an hour before kick-off. Everyone is ready and I’m still there in my tracksuit and people are looking at me and telling me to get changed.

It starts half an hour before we go out to start training and then I get ready and start doing my little rituals.

When I come out on to the pitch, I hop three times and go side-to-side three times, I also pick up all the training tops that we wear out onto the pitch.

It sounds silly but it is so important to me.

I haven’t noticed many of the other boys at Town having their own rituals like I do. I have, in the past, had people who have to be first in the queue during warm up, they have to wear a bib in the session, that sort of thing.

I know Paul Mullin has a drink that he has to have from Thursday up until the match. It’s like a tea but it has herbs floating in it. If you saw it, you wouldn’t want to drink it.

Lots of players have rituals, there are all different things but you can be sure that I will be sticking to mine before we run out at the Globe Arena this afternoon.