Famous quotes by Famous people

” My saddest decision in football was leaving Paul Gascoigne out of the 1998 World Cup finals. But he wasn’t fit enough and once that decision is made, as a manager and a group of players, you forget about who isn’t there and focus on the job. “

” You and I have been physically given two hands and two legs and half-decent brains. Some people have not been born like that for a reason. The karma is working from another lifetime. “

” I often felt as a player in a 4-4-2, you end up being outnumbered in midfield and chasing the ball, so as a manager I liked wingbacks to push forward, it gives the midfield player on the ball three or four options. “

” The old adage that you shouldn’t change a winning team doesn’t apply in modern international football because managers have to study the opposition and pick players who exploit their weaknesses. “

” I have been here before as a spirit – this is just my physical body, it is just an overcoat. And at death, you will take the overcoat off. “

” Nobody criticised me when we qualified for the World Cup when I decided that the best shape for us going forward was three men at the back and stretching the pitch width-wise, which gives you options. “

” No manager in the world gets good results all the time and you know there’s people always ready to have a snipe. In fact I’m my own biggest critic, I really am. Because my own standards are so high, I criticise myself behind the scenes more than perhaps I should, according to people who know me well. “

” I don’t know about Mario Balotelli saying, ‘Why always me?’ – England should be saying as a nation, ‘Why always us?’ You can go back to 1970, when Gordon Banks got food poisoning and we lost to West Germany. Then there was 1986 and Maradona’s hand. And last time, Frank Lampard not getting his goal against the Germans. “

” It’s the biggest thing in the world in many ways, football. People don’t want to talk about politics. They don’t want to talk about religion. They want to talk about football – wherever you go. “

” We have to change the way we coach kids in the long-term so that by the time they hit 16, they are better than the Spanish, French, and German players. That is the big challenge, but the No. 1 criteria for me has always been how you are technically judged, from the age of eight, not size or power. “

” If you’ve had the No. 1 job, why would you go back and be reserve manager? Is Alex Ferguson going to be reserve manager for Manchester United? It’s like a boxer going into the ring with one arm behind his back. Why would you do it? You’re going to get knocked out. “