Ruud Gullit

“If there is a problem, and you don't say anything about it, it's like a cancer and it becomes bigger.”

“You know, if you play on home soil sometimes funny things can happen and you have that push of the crowd.”

“Often there is a wall between the journalist and the star because there is usually not much time to get to know a person, and the star is always asked the same questions, and may be defensive.”

“Being a football manager is no fun at all. You have to put up with all the hassle. It is not surprising that so many turn grey or have heart attacks.”

“Politics and football don't mix.”

“People have expectations of me but I'm not a magician.”

“I like stubborn players. At least they have an opinion. If they are right or wrong, this doesn't matter for me.”

“Football develops, it becomes quicker, players develop as athletes.”

“We Dutch, we like to have an opinion, a strong opinion. We think we know everything better.”

“In L.A., nobody is talking about football. No television stations. You see it nowhere.”

“When I was young I was one of the second generation of black people in Holland. My father was the first. My mother was white, and living with a black man at that time and having a how-you-say half-caste boy is not easy.”

“I am happy with everything I achieved in my football career. I don't think I could have done any more.”

“If a player is racially insulted, he should have the right to leave the field.”

“If you look at my career, I've never gone to a team that had fulfilled their potential.”

“You have to be open to everything.”

“You can't live in history. You've got to build for the future.”

“I'd like to meet god. Not to question it, just to have a peak at what it is. I say 'it' because we don't know what it is.”

“To play Holland, you have to play the Dutch.”

“To play for your country is the best thing that can happen.”

“When I played, I received racial abuse but I was just one of a few black players and we weren't backed up by the authorities.”