Roy Hodgson

“For goal-scorers and centre-forwards, confidence does play a big part.”

“I have always promised myself and my wife that when I don't enjoy it anymore, or I can't handle the stress and the pressure that comes with having such a high-profile and top job - or my energy levels starts to fail me, or my enthusiasm starts to be dented - I won't prolong my career longer than I feel I should.”

“We believe defending is very much a team job, and we can't just rely on a back four and a goalkeeper.”

“I think I like the artistry of the game. I still get a lot of pleasure watching the good-quality teams play, where the movements of the players are coordinated. It's almost ballet-like, although 'ballet-like' is a bit of an exaggeration.”

“A lot of young coaches who respect the fact I have been doing it a long time, that is often their question: 'Does it get any easier? Can you relax more during the games? Can you take it all a little bit more philosophically and put it more in perspective?' The tragedy is that I have to tell them, 'No. If anything, it gets worse.'”

“I don't think any job is impossible.”

“Hindsight does always serve the purpose of putting you in the right, and if you don't have it, you find yourself very often in the wrong.”

“There is so much interaction in a football match: between you and your team-mates and how you support each other, work for each other, make runs. But I also enjoy the other aspect: the pressing and how people work so hard to recover the ball.”

“To be frank, you can't compare the atmosphere and the way people behaved in the Olympic Stadium with the game I watched the day after, the Community Shield.”

“Everywhere I've managed, I've left a platform for my successor to build on, and this is a great satisfaction for me, even if I don't necessarily get the recognition for it.”

“There might be more meetings and situations where you're required to represent the country in some way that wouldn't necessarily happen to you if you're a club manager, but other than that, I haven't found any differences in my approach between running a club side and a national team.”

“I suffer during games. We follow the action, kicking every ball, wondering if our centre-backs can stop the cross... In some ways, you enjoy it, but your heart is always thumping.”

“I quite liked Dostoyevsky when I was younger.”

“When you have been lucky enough to move up the ladder, all you see, really, is the slide back down. You don't see the further steps upwards.”

“I've got to that stage in my life where, difficult decisions I don't have to make, I push them into the future until such time I have to make them.”

“I'm a football manager, a football coach; I can't be expected to pontificate on everything.”