Chelsea star fullback Ashley Cole believes the public judge him too harshly.
Cole accidentally shot and wounded a 21-year-old student at Chelsea's training ground last season.
The England defender insists he is merely misunderstood.
"Judge me on how I play football or judge me on when you meet me. Come and speak to me; if I'm a so-and-so, then fair enough, say it - but a lot of people judge others too quickly without actually knowing the full facts or the actual real person," he told BBC's Football Focus.
"If someone had actually seen the incident - you wouldn't laugh because it was a stupid thing to do - but the whole situation was crazy. Of course it was an accident. But if I wanted to address every single thing in the papers I'd lose my mind. It makes me crazy now when I hear things. I'm just here to play football. That's all I want to do.
"The guy was cool and things like that were dealt with. I don't need to come out and try prove myself or say sorry to everyone else because I said sorry to the boy and that's the main thing.
"I have made mistakes and just have to live with it, but at the end of the day I just want to play football."
