The Things Managers Say

[Cigarette Burn]

'If you can't stand the heat in the dressing room, get out of the kitchen ' - TERRY VENABLES

'We keep kicking ourselves in the foot' - RAY WILKINS

'

I would not say that he (David Ginola) is one of the best left wingers in the Premiership, but there are none better.' - RON ATKINSON

'An inch or two either side of the post and it would have been a goal.' - DAVE BASSETT

'

In football, if you stand still you go backwards.' - PETER REID

'

The lads ran their socks into the ground.' - ALEX FERGUSON

'We threw our dice into the ring and turned up trumps.' - BRUCE RIOCH

'The spirit he has shown has been second to none.' - TERRY VENABLES on Terry Fenwick's drink-driving charge

'To be really happy, we must throw our hearts over the bar and hope that our bodies will follow.' - GRAHAM TAYLOR

'No-one hands you cups on a plate' - TERRY MCDERMOTT

'Nowhere in Europe, especially the world...' - ALEX FERGUSON

'There are two ways of getting the ball. One is from your own team-mates, and that's the only way.' - TERRY VENABLES

'The referee has a reputation for trying to make a name for himself.' - GRAEME SOUNESS

'If in winning we only draw we would be fine.' - JACK CHARLTON

'Shearer could be at 100 per cent fitness, but not peak fitness.' - GRAHAM TAYLOR

'It's a case of putting all our eggs into the next ninety minutes.' - PHIL NEAL

'

Give him his head and he'll take it with both hands or feet.' - BOBBY GOULD

'Cole should be scoring from those distances, but I'm not going to single him out.' - ALEX FERGUSON

'I would have to be deaf not to read the allegations.' - BOBBY DOWNES

'Neil Lennon wasn't sent off for scoring a goal, and that's what annoys me.' - MARTIN O'NEILL

'Last night,we were the best team on the day.' - ROY AITKEN

'We're going to start the game at nil-nil and go out and try to get some goals.' - BRYAN ROBSON

'I can't see us getting beat now - once we get our tails in front.' - JIM PLATT

'As we say in football, it'll go down to the last wire.' - COLIN TODD

'They had a dozen corners, maybe 12 - I'm guessing.' - CRAIG BROWN

'I'm a firm believer that if the other side scores first you have to score twice to win.' - HOWARD WILKINSON

'If we can play like that every week we'll get some level of consistency.' - ALEX FERGUSON

'If they hadn't scored, we would've won' - HOWARD WILKINSON

'You've got to miss them to score sometimes.' - DAVE BASSETT

'A contract on a piece of paper, saying you want to leave, is like a piece of paper saying you want to leave.' - JOHN HOLLINS

'In comparison, there's no comparison.' - RON GREENWOOD

'In terms of the Richter scale this was a force 8 gale.' - JOHN LYALL

'

It's the only way we can lose, irrespective of the result.' - GRAHAM TAYLOR

'Their football was exceptionally good - and they played some good football.' - BOBBY ROBSON

'And I honestly believe we can go all the way to Wembley - unless somebody knocks us out.' - DAVE BASSETT

'It's understandable and I understand that.' - TERRY VENABLES (that's him over there)

'Certain people are for me, certain people are pro me.' - TERRY VENABLES

'If you can't outplay the opposition, you must outnumber them.' - TERRY VENABLES

'Hoddle hasn't been the Hoddle we know. Neither has Robson.' - RON GREENWOOD

'Well, we got nine and you can't score more than that.' - BOBBY ROBSON

'I do want to play the short ball and I do want to play the long ball. I think long and short balls is what football is all about' - BOBBY ROBSON

'Outside of quality we had other qualities' - BERTIE MEE

'Our first goal was pure textile.' - JOHN LAMBIE

'To be talking about vital games at this stage of the season is ridiculous, really, but tomorrow's game is absolutely vital.' - BRIAN HORTON

'What I said to them at half time would be unprintable on the radio.' - GERRY FRANCIS

'If we played like this every week we wouldn't be so inconsistent.' - BRYAN ROBSON

'A lot of hard work went into this defeat.' - MALCOLM ALLISON

'It was a game we should have won. We lost it because we thought we were going to win it. But then again, I thought that there was no way we were going to get a result there.' - JACK CHARLTON

'We probably got on better with the likes of Holland, Belgium, Norway and Sweden, some of whom are not even European.' - JACK CHARLTON

'The first 90 minutes are the most important.' - BOBBY ROBSON

'I promise results, not promises.' - JOHN BOND

'Without picking out anyone in particular, I thought Mark Wright was tremendous.' - GRAEME SOUNESS

'It would be a nice scalp for Scunthorpe to put Wimbledon on our bottoms.' - DAVE BASSETT

'Klinsmann has taken to English football like a duck out of water.' - GERRY FRANCIS

'Playing with wingers is more effective against European sides like Brazil than English sides like Wales.' - RON GREENWOOD

'We rode our luck, but that's what the goalposts are there for.' - JOE KINNEAR

'Even when you're dead, you must never allow yourself just to lie down and be buried.' - GORDON LEE

'We ended up playing football, and that's not our style.' - ALEX MacDONALD

'We got the winner with three minutes left, but then they equalised.' - IAN McNAIL

'Hagi is a brilliant player, but we're not going to get psychedelic over him' - ANDY ROXBURGH

'It's thrown a spanner in the fire.' - BOBBY GOULD

'Maybe not goodbye, but farewell...' - BOBBY ROBSON

'Home advantage gives you an advantage.' - BOBBY ROBSON

'Eighteen months ago they (Sweden) were arguably one of the best three teams in Europe, and that would include Germany, Holland, Russia and anybody else if you like.' - BOBBY ROBSON

'There is great harmonium in the dressing room.' - SIR ALF RAMSEY

'There are 0-0's and 0-0's - and this was 0-0.' - JOHN SILLETT

'...when Flitcroft played for the A team, he had 'footballer' written all over his forehead.' - COLIN BELL

'Chester made it hard for us by having two players sent off.' - JOHN DOCHERTY

'When you are 4-0 up you should never lose 7-1' - LAWRIE McMENEMY

'I'm definately maybe going to play Sturrock.' -JIM 'not Noel Gallagher' McLEAN

'I can count on the fingers of one hand ten games where we've caused our own downfall.' - JOE KINNEAR

'It would have killed them off a little bit.' - GERRY FRANCIS

'We've watched them twice, and seen a few videos. I didn't see them 38 times though, like McCarthy says he watched us. I don't think that's possible. I did my maths you see. That's 38 times 90 minutes - that's two months and the draw was only three weeks ago!" - GEORGES LEEKENS

'If it had gone in, it would have been a goal.' - JOE ROYLE

'I am often interested in players but I never say so, although I am looking for a striker and a midfield player.' - COLIN TODD

'We are not putting our cape over the tunnel : we are putting our cape in the tunnel.' - HOWARD WILKINSON

'They're not doing as well in the league as they've done.' - ROY HODGSON

'We have faced African teams, we have faced English teams - so we are ready to face Scotland because we know what their play will be like.' - MARIO ZAGALLO

'The way forwards is backwards.' - DAVE SEXTON

'The one thing I didn't expect is the way we didn't play.' - GEORGE GRAHAM

'We just ran out of legs.' - DAVID PLEAT

'I like to think it's a case of crossing the i's and dotting the t's.' - DAVE BASSETT

'He's such an honest person it's untrue.' - BRIAN LITTLE

"When you score one goal more than the other team in a cup tie it is always enough.' - CESARE MALDINI

'What he's got is legs, which the other midfielders don't have.' - LENNIE LAWRENCE

'It's certainly a point not gained.' - COLIN TODD

'My own autobiography, which was written by Ian Ross...' - HOWARD KENDALL

'Hartson's got more previous than Jack the Ripper.' - HARRY REDKNAPP

'The important thing is he shook hands with us over the phone.' - ALAN BALL

'You must be as strong in March, when the fish are down.' - GIANLUCA VIALLI

'When a player gets to 30, so does his body.' - GLENN HODDLE

'I think in international football you have to be able to handle the ball.' - GLENN HODDLE

'His tackle was definitely pre-ordained.' - GLENN HODDLE

'I have a number of alternatives, and each one gives me something different.' - GLENN HODDLE

'If anyone is found guilty, I will step on them.' - GLENN HODDLE

'75% of what happens to Paul [Gascoigne] in his life is fiction.' - GLENN HODDLE

'We didn't have the run of the mill.' - GLENN HODDLE

'With hindsight, it's easy to look at it with hindsight.' - GLENN HODDLE

'Okay, so we lost, but good things can come from it - negative and positive.' - GLENN HODDLE

'Robert Lee was able to do some running on his groin for the first time.' - GLENN HODDLE

'International football is one clog further up the football ladder.' - GLENN HODDLE

'We pressed the self-destruct button ourselves' - BRIAN KIDD

'We can beat anyone on our day, so long as we score.' - ALEX TOTTEN

'We had enough chances to win this game. In fact, we did win.' - ALEX SMITH

'I don't blame individuals, I blame myself.' - JOE ROYLE

'I just wonder what would have happened if the shirt had been on the other foot.' - MIKE WALKER

'Some of our players have got no brains, so I've given them the day off tomorrow to rest them.' - DAVID KEMP

'I was feeling as sick as the proverbial donkey.' - MICK MCCARTHY

'The beauty of Cup football is that Jack always has a chance of beating Goliath.' - TERRY BUTCHER

'There's a rat in the camp trying to throw a spanner into the works.' - CHRIS CATTLIN

'I'm the one with his head on the line.' - CHRIS WADDLE

'We must have had 99% of the game. It was the other three per cent that cost us the match.' - RUUD GULLIT

'Of the nine red cards this season we probably deserved half of them.' - ARSENE WENGER

'Winning all the time is not necessarily good for the team.' - JOHN TOSHACK

'Too many players were trying to score or create a goal.' - GERARD HOULLIER

'I've seen them on television on a Sunday morning most days of the week.' - JACK CHARLTON

'You weigh up the pros and cons and try to put them into chronological order.' - DAVE BASSETT

'It was not a mistake, it was a blunder.' - GERARD HOULLIER

'We didn't look like scoring, although we looked like we were going to get a goal.' - ALAN BUCKLEY

'The effort I think you should take for granted, but sometimes it's not there.' - GRAHAM TAYLOR

'We're down to the bare knuckles.' - GEORGE GRAHAM

'Nothing that UEFA or FIFA do surprises me any more and I'm very surprised this has not been sorted out long in advance.' - GRAHAM TAYLOR

'He made the impossible possible.' - ARSENE WENGER

'Davor has a left leg and a nose in the box.' - ARSENE WENGER

'We've got to get out there and set our stool out early.' - KEITH STEVENS

'Today's top players only want to play in London or for Manchester United. That's what happened when I tried to sign Alan Shearer and he went to Blackburn.' - GRAEME SOUNESS

'We're football people, not poets, but obviously I'm disappointed with the result.' - MICK McCARTHY

'To be second with one game to go - you can't ask for more.' - STUART McCALL

'Of the ten sendings off, nine have been different players, so it proves we're unlucky.' - KEITH STEVENS

'It was a continuance of what we have seen most of the season - that is, various clubs beating each other.' - RON NOADES

'I don't read everything I read in the press.' - DAVE JONES

'The best thing for them to do is to stay at nil-nil until they score the goal.' - MARTIN O'NEILL

'If we'd won, it would have meant an historic double-treble. But we weren't even thinking about that.' - WALTER SMITH

'People always remember the second half.' - GRAHAM TAYLOR

'I strongly feel that the only difference between the two teams were the goals that England scored.' - CRAIG BROWN

'I just felt that the whole night, the conditions and taking everything into consideration and everything being equal, and everything is equal, we should have got something from the game - but we didn't.' - JOHN BARNES

'It wasn't going to be our day on the night.' - BRYAN ROBSON

'We are now entering a new Millennium and football's a completely different cup of tea.' - DAVE BASSETT

'I couldn't really jet off to the States on a whim and a prayer.' - DAVID PLATT

'This pilot move by FIFA will take root and fly.' - ALEX FERGUSON

'I am manager of Macclesfield and am giving the job my total commitment. Obviously, as an Irishman, I want the job as their international manager.' - SAMMY MCILROY

'It's a conflict of parallels.' - ALEX FERGUSON

'The main thing in a cup tie is to get through.' - WALTER SMITH

'I was a young lad when I was growing up.' - DAVID O'LEARY

'There are no easy games in this division and this one won't be easy.' - JOE ROYLE

'Their keeper played very well and it was not the best pitch, but I am not making excuses.' - GRAHAM RIX

'The philosophy of a lot of European teams, even in home matches, is not to give a goal away.' - ALEX FERGUSON

'It would be foolish to believe that automatic promotion is automatic in any way whatsoever.' - DAVE BASSETT

'I'm not going to look beyond the semi-final - but I would love to lead Newcastle out at the final.' - BOBBY ROBSON

'In one word, it is bloody stupidity' - CLAUDE LE ROY

'We had a belief that we believed in' - JAN MOLBY

'At the start of the season you're strong enough to win the Premiership and the European Cup, but you have to be as strong in March, when the fish are down' - GIANLUCA VIALLI

'I was inbred into the game by my father.' - DAVID PLEAT

'We have run a marathon and fallen just short so we need to boost the squad to get us over that final hurdle' - JOHN RUDGE

'If it comes to penalties, one of these two great sides could go out on the whim of a ball.' - PETER SHREEVES

'As I've said before and I've said in the past...' - KENNY DALGLISH

'He's captain of Rangers, and that's one of the reasons he's captain.' - WALTER SMITH