Gordon Strachan Quotes

I like to be able to control which players I'm working with. Because it doesn't matter how good a coach you are if the guys you're working with think they already know it all. You need a response, you need to feel they're trying. I want players who are always striving to improve.

I've seen teams spend £150 million and get nowhere near the Champions League. It has taken Manchester City a billion to get there. There are no guarantees.

If you keep asking me questions, I will continue to find excuses.

He [Sir Alex Ferguson] used to play tapes of Bill Shankly talking. I remember that and a singer he liked. I don't know who it was but it was crap. He played it on the team bus too, and all the boys hated it. Until one night it got chucked away. If he's still wondering who threw that tape off the bus, it was me. So maybe he was right and I'm not to be trusted ...

It's an incredible rise to stardom. At 17 you're more likely to get a call from Michael Jackson than Sven Goran Eriksson.

I'm a better coach now than when I joined Celtic. The longer you stay in any job, the better you become. If you lose your drive, your enthusiasm, your imagination, that experience is no good.

Are there Martians out there? I haven't got a clue. Is there life out there? I have no idea.

I've been in football a long time and people have problems through debt, drugs, drink and family.

It took me 35 years of being involved at a decent level of football to become manager at a great club like Celtic.

The world looks a totally different place after two wins. I can even enjoy watching Blind Date or laugh at Noel's House Party.

Thomas Gravesen thinks he's broke his hand, but I told him that you play football with your feet and not your hand.

If I was English I'd kill myself

It wasn't an easy decision to leave out Bobo, because I could have done that with two or three from the back four. But there's a limit to the players you have and the changes you can make. The reality is we're not defending well enough. But we just have to plug on. There's no magic formula.

I think what I've actually achieved as a manager does sometimes get a bit overlooked, because all people think about is the media side of things. They tend to forget I've not done so bad.

I've had to take a lot of stick down the years but the one thing that really got to me was when someone questioned my integrity. It's the one thing that really grates with you.

Believe me, you need good people if you want to make good players.

I'm just going to crumble like a wreck. I'll go home, become an alcoholic and maybe! jump of a bridge.

I did think there were one or two referees who had a personal thing against me. It wasn't them versus Celtic - it was them against me! I just think they wanted to take me on.

Everybody at Barcelona loves Messi. They can't speak highly of him

Arsene Wenger was talking about comparisons with Johan Cruyff, a player who only comes around every 10 years and Thierry Henry is definitely one of those

I'm going to miss his childlike laugh. I'll forget the goals but I'll never forget that laugh.

Paul Scholes has been the best England midfield player for 30-odd years. You'd probably have to go back to Bobby Charlton to find someone who could do as much as Scholes. When the ball arrives at his feet he could tell you where every player on that pitch is at that moment. His awareness is superb.

I tried to talk to the ref but it is easier to get to see the Pope. If I'm in London again and I get mugged I hope the same number of people turn up to protect me. There were six police, four stewards and even a UN peace observer out there.

I've got more important things to think about. I've got a yogurt to finish by today, the expiry date is today.

Good players win you games, good formations stop you losing them.

All the really good players I know, they all knew right from wrong. So many of them don't learn that at home nowadays.