MY WIFE RUNS MY LIFE

Peter’s life was highly structured as a top-level footballer when he met Abbey, but now they have to improvise. ‘That’s been difficult,’ he says. ‘I had someone telling me where to be from the age of 16 to when I retired at 38. “Give me your passport, give me your bags, we’re flying to this place, the bus will pick you up there.” Then bang, that’s finished. “You can plan your own life.” I realise I’m not very good at it,’ he adds with a laugh. ‘Abs takes care of that now.’

They live in a ¤3.5 million home in Surrey with a pool and a cinema. Is he a hands-on dad? ‘Yeah, that’s fair to say. It doesn’t matter how early it is when you see your little ones looking at you in the morning. It’s a lively house but we’re blessed, we’ve got four healthy kids [all right, with Peter].’ Will they be sporty? ‘I hope so. My eldest is a swimmer. She competes everywhere. I’m getting the boys into football as much as I can. I’m not going to lie, I’d love them all to be elite athletes: it’s given me the best life. But if they’re not, if they enjoy sport and get something out of it, then great.’