Jaap Stam

“For me, a late start was a good thing. A lot of kids who start too early get bored. I'd done all the things I wanted to do, I'd enjoyed myself, having fun and playing as an amateur and that was important.”

“It's not always the player that's talking in the dressing room that becomes a good manager. It's a feeling that you need to develop, it's a feeling that needs to grow on you.”

“As a manager, you need to have your own vision and what you want to do with the team.”

“Of course, when you play football yourself you can think you want to become a manager but it does not make you a good manager.”

“It's tricky for me to take a dive, though. If I fall down under the slightest kick, I'm going to look stupid falling down like I've been shot.”

“It's football, you work with humans and humans make mistakes. We will do everything in our power to prepare the players so they know to make the right decision at the right times.”

“All of Europe's biggest clubs place the Champions' League as their top priority these days but only one of us can lift the trophy. The domestic league titles are still crucial of course, but I think most players will tell you the Champions' League is the one they want to win most of all.”

“I'm sure I can work the Premier League, maybe my style of play is better suited to the Premier League than in the Championship.”

“I always watched professional football and my father played at an amateur level, but I didn't think I wanted to become a pro.”

“Players from Holland and Scandinavia aren't divers, but those from Spain and Italy go down far too easily for my liking.”

“When you go to school in Holland you learn to speak English and write in English - but English is different from the Scottish language!”

“I just played football from an early age and didn't get involved in any other sports. We had tennis, cycling, ice skating - I'd like to have skated more, because it's so physical. Ten minutes on the ice and you really feel it in your back.”

“I want to reach something with a team and go to the highest level.”

“I admit to becoming frustrated by the frequency of diving in the Champions League.”