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Great Football Quotes
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| evil_bastard |
Lets build up a collection of football quotes. Not misquotes or mistakes or foolish utterances but quotes about the beautiful game.
I'll start us off:
| quote: | "In soccer, more than in any other sport, the way you play is the way you are.
To understand different soccer styles, it remains the case that the Renaissance happened in Italy, and the Industrial Revolution in England - and when either country plays soccer, that's the way it tends to look.
Knowing these differences, I have little doubt that the true soccer afficionada could watch a game between two sides wearing neutral colours and still have a good guess, before the game was much advanced, where the two sides had come from. Soccer, in short, is an expressive sport, and the way you play speaks volumes about the way you are.
Soccer began life centuries ago as a riot with a pig's bladder in the middle of it.
Soccer is not about justice. It's a drama - and criminally wrong decisions against you are part and parcel of that.
The 4-3-3 deployed by England to destroy San Marino is an assault formation.
Soccer gives us an alternative history, an alternative geography. In place of laws and wars and inaugurations, there are record books and fixture lists. In place of kings and politicians are players and managers. In place of capitals and countries are stadia and clubs, the San Siro, the Bernabeu, the Nou Camp. We look to England-Hungary 1953, Real Madrid-Eintracht Frankfurt 1960, Wembley 1966, Turin 1990...
In the qualifiers for USA '94, in Wales' group, Czechoslovakia draw in Cyprus - and Czechoslovakia may have ceased to exist, but for the moment their soccer team plays on. There's alternative geography for you.
Home advantange is a double-edged sword; the crowd can either roar you on, or you can crumble beneath their too-great desire, the weight of it on your shoulders. But England didn't crumble in 1966, and 103 years after the FA was founded in the Freemason's Tavern in Lincoln's Inn Fields, the 8th World Cup was played on the grounds of the world's first soccer clubs, and won and brought home by the people who made them.
By the 1974 World Cup Uruguay were reaching a nadir; they weren't even any good at kicking people any more.
Politically and economically, attempts toward European unity seen sometimes to have all the harmony of a pack of cats in a sack - but in soccer we've been getting there for decades.
During Beirut hostage John McCarthy's captivity, Gary Lineker scored six goals for England at Mexico '86; McCarthy reports that this led him for a while to think 'lineker' was Arabic for 'goal'... It says worlds about the game that McCarthy's friends figured if there was any way to reach him, if there was anything he might be permitted to watch with his captors in TV. it would be soccer.
For the English, going to a sweeper from 4-4-2 at Italia '90 was the soccer equivalent of abolishing the monarchy.
The great fallacy is that this game is first and last about winning. It is nothing of the kind. The game is about glory; it is about doing things with style." - Danny Blanchflower |
| quote: | | "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 |
| quote: | | "To the aesthete it is an art form, an athletic ballet. To the spiritually inclined it is a religion." - Paul Gardner |
| quote: | | "As long as the human race is able to concern itself with more than mere survival, soccer will have its place." - Desmond Morris |
| quote: | "Some people believe football is a matter of life and death, I am very
disappointed with that attitude. I can assure you it is much, much more important than that" - Bill Shankly |
| quote: | | "Football is the beautiful game" - Pele |
| quote: | | "The joy of seeing Yuri Gagarin in space is only superseded by the joy of a good penalty save" - Lev Yashin |
| quote: | | "Train the right way. Help each other. It's a form of socialism without the Politics." - Bill Shankly |
Any more? |
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| Xavier |
Shanks had tonnes of classics
| quote: | | "'If you are first you are first." |
After a hard fought 1:1 draw:
| quote: | | 'The best side drew.' |
To an interpreter regarding excited Italian journalists:
| quote: | | 'Just tell them I completely disagree with everything they say. |
Shankly at Dixie Dean's funeral
| quote: | I know this is a sad occasion, but I think that Dixie would be
amazed to know that even in death he could draw a bigger
crowd to Goodison than Everton on a Saturday afternoon' |
Shankly to a young Liverpool trainee:
| quote: | | 'The problem with you son, is that your brains are all in your head.' |
After beating Everton in the 1971 FA Cup semi:
| quote: | 'Sickness would not have kept me away from this one.
If I'd been dead, I would have had them bring the casket
to the ground, prop it up in the stands,
and cut a hole in the lid.' |
To a barber, who in 1968 had asked 'Anything off the top ?'
| quote: | | 'The trouble with referees is that they know the rules, but they do not know the game.' |
To Alan Ball after he'd signed for Everton:
| quote: | | 'Never mind Alan, at least you'll be able to play next to a great team' |
To Tommy Smith after he'd turned up for training with a bandaged knee:
| quote: | | 'Take that poof bandage off, and what do you mean YOUR knee, it's LIVERPOOL'S knee !' |
To the players after failing to sign Lou Macari:
| quote: | | 'I only wanted him for the reserves anyway' |
It was either Shankly or Bob Paisley that said this to Ian St John:
| quote: | 'If you're not sure what to do with the ball,
just pop it in the net and we'll discuss your options afterwards.' |
| quote: | 'A lot of football success is in the mind.
You must believe you are the best and then make sure
that you are. In my time at Anfield we always said we had
the best two teams on Merseyside,
Liverpool and Liverpool reserves.' |
| quote: | 'Of course I didn't take my wife to see Rochdale as an
anniversary present. It was her birthday.
Would I have got married during the football season ?
Anyway, it was Rochdale reserves.' |
| quote: | 'If a player isn't interfering with play or seeking to gain
an advantage, then he should be !' |
| quote: | | 'There's Man. Utd and Man. City at the bottom of Division 1, and by God they'll take some shifting.' |
Shankly to the Brussels hotel clerk who queried his signing 'Anfield' as his address on the hotel register:
| quote: | | 'But that's where I live.' |
To Jock Stein after the 1966 Cup Winners Cup tie with Celtic at Anfield:
| quote: | | 'Jock, do you want your share of the gate money or shall we just return the empties ?' |
After the 5:1 defeat by Ajax in the European Cup in 1967:
| quote: | | 'We cannae play these defensive Continental sides.' |
After the 5:1 defeat by Ajax in the European Cup in 1967:
| quote: | 'Five-one...Aye, that should help them to make a
game of it when they come to Anfield for the 2nd leg.' |
| quote: | 'I told this player, 'Listen Son, you haven't broken your leg.
It's all in the mind.'' |
Shanks and Tommy Docherty were at a game.
There was a player every other club coveted on view.
The Doc turned to Shanks and said
| quote: | | '100,000 wouldn't buy him.' Shanks responded 'Yeah, and I'm one of the 100,000!' |
| quote: | 'Brian Clough's worse than the rain in Manchester.
At least God stops that occasionally !' |
Of an opposition defender in the early 70s
| quote: | | 'If he had gunpowder for brains he couldn't blow his cap off.' |
When asked what aspect of the game he disliked most:
| quote: | | 'The end of the season.' |
Radio Merseyside interviewer to Shankly:
| quote: | 'Mr Shankly, why is it that your teams' unbeaten
run has suddenly ended ... ?' |
Shankly | quote: | | 'Why don't you go and jump in the lake ?' |
| quote: | 'I was only in the game for the love of football
- and I wanted to bring back happiness to
the people of Liverpool.' |
| quote: | | "My idea was to build Liverpool into a bastion of invincibility. Napoleon had that idea. He wanted to conquer the bloody world. I wanted Liverpool to be untouchable. My idea was to build Liverpool up and up until eventually everyone would have to submit and give in." |
^ And He Did ^:) |
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| evil_bastard |
Those are great, but could we have a bit more diversity than just Bill Shankly ;)
I'll go and have a look for some more. |
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| evil_bastard |
| quote: | | "I would love it if we could beat them. He's gone down a lot in my estimation. Football in this country is honest. You sometimes wonder about abroad but not in this country. I would love it if we beat them - love it!!" - Kevin Keegan speaks angrily about Alex Ferguson and Man United in 1996. Newcastle would later beat Man Utd 5-0. The FA recently awarded this the quote of the decade. |
| quote: | | "Football, wherein is nothing but beastly fury, and extreme violence, whereof proceedeth hurt, and consequently rancour and malice do remain with them that be wounded" - Thomas Elyot, writing in the 16th century. Football supporters today can relate with this. |
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| Xavier |
| quote: | | "it will be the most boring Uefa Cup final ever." |
- Alaves midfielder Jordi Cruyff before the 2001 UEFA Cup final between Liverpool and Deportivo Alaves . The thrilling match finished 5-4 after golden goal.
and one of my favourite moments..
| quote: | "its a bit tentative...Berger...oh and Owen brushed past Dixon, across comes Adams
..........Ohhhwhenn!...................
Absolutely magnificent....Michael Owen has turned the FA cup final on its head, Arsenal One Liverpool Two!" |
- Martin Tyler
| quote: | | "Well if you've ever wondered why people talk about pace being a vital commodity in a striker today. Just watch this, blows away Dixon takes it wide of Adams and what a placement this is. Absolutely stunning. This is the only place the man can score, he aint gonna score anywhere else on the goal other than that bottom corner pass David Seaman. Its quite extraordinary." |
-Andy Gray |
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| chesco |
i don't think this ones been put down yet, but if it has i'm sorry.
tim lovejoy (soccer am presenter) was commentating on the arsenal - chelsea fa cup final.
"it's only ray parlour"
two seconds later the ball was nestling firmly in the back of the net |
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| evil_bastard |
Some more...
| quote: | | "Some people are on the pitch, they think it's all over ..." [English fans pour onto the pitch, Geoff Hurst whacks it into the net and England win the World Cup Final] "...it is now!" - Commentator Kenneth Wolstenholme |
| quote: | | "We are the best in the world! We have beaten England! Lord Nelson, Lord Beaverbrook, Sir Winston Churchill, Sir Anthony Eden, Clement Attlee, Henry Cooper, Lady Diana, we have beaten them all! Maggie Thatcher, can you hear me? Maggie Thatcher, your boys took a hell of a beating!" - Norwegian commentator after his country's first ever defeat of England, 1981 |
| quote: | | Football is a very simple game. For 90 minutes 22 men go running after the ball and at the end the Germans win" - Gary Lineker |
| quote: | | "'Football is only a game.' That is the most outrageous nonsense of the lot. Football is a science, it's an art, it is war, ballet, drama, terror and joy all rolled into one" - Tom Utley |
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| HalifaxGooner |
Alf Ramsey to England '66 team before extra time vs. Germany.
"You've beaten them once, now go out and bloody beat them again"
Alf Ramsey after being told 'Welcome to Scotland in' '67 at Prestwick Airport.
"You must be ing joking!"
Lord Wigg after England were knocked out by Poland in '73
"It's worse than losing a war. A national crisis of the highest magnitude".
Denis Law
"As we came around the eighteenth green, a crowd were at the clubhouse window cheering and waiting to tell me England had won the World Cup. It was the blackest day of my life."
Danny Blanchflower
"It's our new tactic. We equalise before the other team scores."
Len Shackleton after scoring 6 goals in Newcastle 13-0 Newport
"And they were lucky to get nil!"
Tommy Docherty
"I talk a lot. On any subject. Which is always football."
Alan Brown, Sunderland manager in '68
"Soccer is the biggest thing that's happened in creation. Bigger than any 'ism' you can name."
Len Shackleton on Newcastle Utd.
"I've heard of players selling dummies. This club keeps buying them."
Tommy Docherty
"Preston? They're one of my old clubs. But then again, most of them are. I've had more clubs than Jack Nicklaus."
Mike England
"If you have a fortnights holiday in Dublin, you qualify for a Republic of Ireland cap." |
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| Xavier |
| quote: | | Shearer there,using his strength, and thats his strength...his strength... |
- Kevin Keegan
| quote: | | he stormed into the box there like a giraffe on rollerskates |
- Ron Atkinson
| quote: | | he gave him the eyebrows |
- Ron Atkinson
| quote: | | I have always thought Totti was a bit of a Twat,I am hungry...got any sandwiches? |
- Ron Atkinson again when he thought he was off air last season. |
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| shoXx |
| Hahaha, we got a winner! |
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| czechstar00 |
- MIKE INGHAM
Tottenham are trying tonight to become the first London team to win this cup. The last team to do so was the 1973 Spurs team.
- IAN DARKE
And with just 4 minutes gone, the score is already 0-0
- MIKE INGHAM
The Uruguayans are losing no time in making a meal around the referee.
- ROB PALMER
Ferguson hasn't scored since the opening day of the season - he's not a natural striker. (five minutes later) Ferguson! At last a goal from him...natural instincts from a former Scottish striker.
and my favourite
- JOHN HELM
Viv Anderson has pissed a fatness test. |
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| Kongo_kim |
Something Claudio Ranieri said about todays game agianst Zilinka.
"If we lose I blow my brains out" :D |
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