Some great quotes from the Beautiful Game

"Some people think futbol is a matter of life and death.

I'm very disappointed with that attitude.
I can assure you it is MUCH, MUCH, MUCH more important than that."
Bill Shankly - Former manager of Liverpool
"...I'm just warning you.
Now thee can go past and the bloody ball can go past,
but thee and the ball are not going past together."
Alf Young to Tommy Lawton
"I never comment on referees
and I'm not going to break the habit of a lifetime for that idiot"
Ron Atkinson
"The score is Sunderland nil, Leicester nil, the temperature is nil (32 degrees)
and the entertainment value is not much above nil"
Sunderland v Leicester, Radio 5 Live
"I just wanted to give my players some technical advice.
I told them the game had started."
Ron Atkinson on why he moved from the stands to the sideline during a game
Describing a meeting of English soccer superstar David Beckham and Nelson Mandela, the
President of South Africa, as an encounter between: "an icon of his generation, adored by
millions across the globe, who has brought hope to his nation where there was once despair...and
Nelson Mandela."
The Guardian Newspaper, London, England
"I'd like to play for an Italian club, like Barcelona."
Mark Draper
"I couldn't settle in Italy - it was like living in a foreign country."
Ian Rush (A Bright English Lad)
"I believe in a Methuselah, Frankenstein, alien beings, flying saucers and the hand of God. But
most of all, I believe in on-loan goalkeepers from Swindon who score goals in the dying
seconds"
Carlisle chairman Michael Knighton in The Sunday Times, after his keeper scores a winning
goal in injury time to avoid relegation and keep them in the Football League.
To Ian St John:
"If you're not sure what to do with the ball,
just pop it in the net and we'll discuss your options afterwards."
Bill Shankly

"For the 2224 World Cup,

Scotland fielded a goalkeeper who was a human oblong of flesh,
twenty four foot by eight, that filled the entire goal.
Somehow they still failed to qualify for the second round."
Grant Naylor,"Better than Life"
"Referees don't make mistakes.
Or at least they don't since I got fined for saying otherwise."
Roma coach Zdenek Zemen
"Football is simple but the hardest thing to do is playing simple football."
Johan Cruyff
"Zidane does some extraordinary things, it's true. But you have to put everything in context.
What Zidane does with a a ball, Maradona could do with an orange."
Michel Platini (Former French Star)
"If I walked on water, my accusers would say it is because I can't swim."
Berti Vogts, Germany coach
"In Latin America the border between soccer and politics is vague.
There is a long list of governments that have fallen or been overthrown after the defeat of the
national team."
Luis Suarez - Uruguayan soccer player.
"The rules of soccer are very simple, basically it is this:
if it moves, kick it. If it doesn't move, kick it until it does."
Phil Woosnam, 1974
"The true champion is bending over with exhaustion when no one else is looking."
Mia Hamm
Interviewer : "Would it be fair to describe you as a volatile player?"
"Well, I can play in the center, on the right and occasionally on the left side."
David Beckham
"Never go for a 50-50 ball unless you're 80-20 sure of winning it."
Ian Darke
"He (David Beckham) cannot kick with his left foot,
he cannot head a ball, he cannot tackle and he doesn't score many goals.
Apart from that he's all right."
George Best
"That's great. Tell him he's Pele and get him back on."
John Lambie, Partick Thistle Manager, when told a concussed striker did not know who he was.

"They missed the confidence that Massimo Taibi's presence gave to each player.
Specifically, the confidence that with him around, they wouldn't be the worst player on the
pitch."
Football365's attempt to explain Manchester United's play in Brazil
To Tommy Smith after he'd turned up for training with a bandaged knee:
"Take that bandage off, and what do you mean YOUR knee, it's LIVERPOOL'S knee!"
Bill Shankly
"They didn't change positions, they just moved the players around."
Terry Venables
Credit card application form question: "What is your position at the company?"
"Right back."
Jason McAteer
"Acne is a bigger problem than injuries."
Brian Clough on his rather youthful Nottingham Forest side
"The keeper was coming out in instalments."
Joe Royle
"It's like a toaster, the ref's shirt pocket. Every time there's a tackle, up pops a yellow card."
Kevin Keegan
"I spent a lot of my money on booze, birds and fast cars. The rest I just squandered."
George Best
"I've bent balls around walls better than that."
An English player is unimpressed by The Great Wall Of China
"If the English have a patent on hooliganism, then they should sue all those countries that have
copied their product.
It would be a very lucrative stream of royalties."
Colin Morris
"I know it sounds awful, but it just hit me half-way through my stag night
that I'd rather be going to the match with the lads than marrying Nicola."
Hereford fan, cancelling his wedding to watch FA Cup game v Aylsebury.
"This is an unusual Scotland side because they have good players."
Javier Clemente, Spanish Coach, on Scotland's 1996 Under-21 side
"It's best being a striker. If you miss five, then score the winner, you're a hero.
The goalkeeper can play a blinder, then let one in ... and he's a villain. "
Ian Rush

"Well, Clive, it's all about the two M's - movement and positioning."
Ron Atkinson
"Sometimes in football you have to score goals."
Thierry Henry
"It's real end-to-end stuff... but unfortunately it's all up at Forest's end."
Chris Kamara
"It was like the ref had a brand new yellow card and wanted to see if it worked."
Richard Rufus
"Welcome to Bologna on Capital Gold for England versus San Marino with Tennent's Pilsner,
brewed with Czechoslovakian yeast for that extra Pilsner taste and England are one down."
Jonathon Pearce
"More football later,but first let's see the goals from the Scottish Cup final."
Des Lynam
"Still we've had the hard times too - one year we finished second."
Bob Paisley
"The trouble with referees is that they know the rules, but they do not know the game."
Bill Shankly
"I was shocked when I was first introduced to the fans because they brought out a sheep,
cut its head off and then smeared blood over my forehead."
Manchester United's Ronnie Johnsen on life with Besiktas, Turkey
"When the seagulls follow the trawler,
it is because they think sardines will be thrown into the sea."
Eric Cantona
"There's nobody fitter at his age, except maybe Raquel Welch."
Ron Atkinson, commenting on 39 year old Scot Gordon Strachan
"Arsenal caresses a football the way I dreamed of caressing Marilyn Monroe."
Brian Clough
"Ian Rush is deadly 10 times out of 10, but that wasn't one of them."
Peter Jones
"When I first met him (David Beckham),
I didn't know whether to shake his hand or lick his face."
Robbie Williams

"Football is all very well as a game for rough girls, but is hardly suitable for delicate boys."
Oscar Wilde
"We didnt underestimate them. They were a lot better than we thought."
Bobby Robson, after playing Cameroon in the 1990 World Cup finals
Reporter: "It looked like you were outplayed in certain area's of the field in today's game."
Gordon Strachan: "Yes, we were outplayed in certain parts of the field today, the big green
area of it..."