Jermaine Pennant has a neat and humorous response when the inevitable issue of his bad-boy past is raised.
‘No-one’s an angel,’ starts the controversial former Arsenal and Liverpool winger before delivering the punchline. ‘I don’t think there’s an angel in football — apart from James Milner. Everyone else has made mistakes through their career and in life.’
At 34-years-old, Pennant is about to embark on his latest fresh start, with League One Bury for whom he will make his debut on Saturday against Walsall.
Now a family man rather than an enfant terrible, Pennant acknowledges he may always be better known for wearing an electronic tag or leaving a Porsche at a Spanish railway station rather than playing for The Invincibles and featuring in a Champions League final.