I was only in the game for the love of football – and I wanted to bring back happiness to the people of Liverpool. Bill Shankly
If Everton were playing down the bottom of my garden, I’d draw the curtains. Bill Shankly
Tevez: I Hate Your City! Carlos Manc rap: There’s nothing to do in Manchester. The weather. Everything. It has nothing. When I finish my contact I will not return to Manchester ever. Not even on holiday. Not for anything. I’m not enjoying the life of a footballer. Daily Star Sunday 5th June 2011
To say that these man paid their shilling to watch twenty-two hirelings kick a ball is merely to say that violin is wood and catgut, that Hamlet is so much paper and ink. For a shilling the Bruddersford United AFC offered you Conflict and Art. J B Priestley, Good Companions, 1929
Sport, and Wolves have announced today that Tommy Docherty is to leave them after completing his three-day contract. Spitting Image s1e11, ITV 1984
Saint: So who do you fancy for the sixth round, Greavesie?
Greaves: Well it’s gotta be you really, Saint. I bought the last five. Spitting Image s2e4
Well it’s a small minority at Millwall what spoils it for the majority. No, the fans. I mean they sit there doing nothing and getting in the way of the fighting. I mean if you want to watch football you go and see a football team. Spitting Image s2e10, Greavesy to Saint
Bobby Robson: I’ve done some terrible things. All those nights that I was away from home, well … I’ve been manager of England.
Wife: Oh the shame! Spitting Image s8e3
So it’s Pearce for England. And curiously enough this is Stuart Pearce’s third-straight international appearance against a team beginning with the letter P. Spitting Image s11e2, John Motson
Des Lynam: Jimmy Greaves, what’s the World Cup going to be like without a single British team?
Jimmy Greaves: Er, better? Spitting Image s15e2
Mr Charlton, would it not be fair to say that all the people you have picked for your team are English? Spitting Image s16e6, Irish football press conference
I never took no money! I never fixed nothing! I deny everything! Spitting Image s17e1, ITV 1994, Terry Venables
July 1974: Leeds United. Leeds United is the dominant force in English football. The nation is in trauma having failed to qualify for the World Cup. The manager of England is the most coveted job in the country. There’s only one obvious choice. The Damned United 2009 starring Michael Sheen & Timothy Spall & Maurice Roeves & Elizabeth Carling & Oliver Stokes & Ryan Day & Peter Quinn & Colm Meaney & Henry Goodman & Jim Broadbent, director Tom Hooper, banner caption
Today we welcome Brian Clough who starts his new job as manager of Leeds United. Yorkshire television interview of Brian Clough
I think Leeds have sold themselves short. ibid. Brian Clough, televised interview
Not much of a welcome, is it? ibid. Britain Clough, car park
So why do I get the feeling this is about all you and Don? ibid. Leeds chairman to Clough
Of course this is about me and Don. Always has been. But, instead of putting frowns on your foreheads, oh ye elders of Leeds in your blazers and your brass fucking buttons, it should put big wide Colgate smiles on your fucking big wide faces because it means I won’t eat and won’t sleep until I’ve taken what ever that man has achieved and beaten it, beaten it, so I never have to hear the name Don Fucking Revie again. ibid. Clough to board
This door has got to be fit for Don Revie to walk through. ibid. Clough to cleaners
I’ve heard he is a superstitious twat. ibid. Peter Taylor to Brian Clough
Give em a ’smile. Pretend you’re happy to be here at Derby. ibid.
Football’s all about money now. ibid. Clough to Derby chairman
But as far as I’m concerned the first thing you can do for me is to chuck all your medals and all your caps and all your pots and all your pans into the biggest fucking dustbin you can find, because you’ve never won any of them fairly: you’ve done it all by bloody cheating. ibid. Clough to players
Get to sleep, man. Where’s your dignity? Don’t ring here again. ibid. Revie to Clough
Players lounge, Brian, ten minutes. ibid. Chairman to Clough
The last two words of every story ever written is what’s going on: the end. ibid. Clough to assistant
Do you want a drink, do ya? Got a drop of cooking sherry. ibid. Taylor to Clough
Don Revie failed as England Manager. He went to the United Arab Emirates where his career ended among allegations of financial misdealing. Leaving him in soccer wilderness. Brian Clough and Peter Taylor were reunited. ibid. banner caption
Brian Clough remains the greatest manager the England team never had. ibid.
I do believe in fairies. And that is my outlook. Brian Clough
I wouldn’t say I was the best manager in the business; but I was in the top one. Brian Clough
Rome wasn’t built in a day. But I wasn’t on that particular job. Brian Clough
Stand up straight, get your shoulders back and get your hair cut. Brian Clough, advice for John McGovern
Walk on water? I know most people out there will be saying that instead of walking on it, I should have taken more of it with my drinks. They are absolutely right. Brian Clough
I’m sure the England selectors thought if they took me on and gave me the job, I’d want to run the show. They were shrewd, because that’s exactly what I would have done. Brian Clough
I like my women to be feminine, not sliding into tackles and covered in mud. Brian Clough
Michael Parkinson: How do you react when someone says, ‘Boss, you’re doing it wrong?’
Brian Clough: I ask him how he thinks it ought to be done, then we get down to it then we talk about it for twenty minutes, and then we decide that I was right. The Parkinson Show, BBC
The last time I was employed I rather got my fingers burnt. Brian Clough, interview David Frost 1974
He’s [Don Revie] a very talented man and I don’t like him. ibid.
I don’t like the way he’s goes about football either. ibid.
I’ve never felt envy in my life ... But I do feel envy when this particular man has got this particular job. ibid.
I would love to be the perfect dictator. Brian Clough
I would love a few chairmen on your programme occasionally. I believe the very sight of them brings the game into disrepute. Brian Clough
Don Revie: Why did you come from Brighton to Leeds to take it over when you’d criticized ’em so much? Why did you take the job?
Brian Clough: Well because I thought it was the best job in the country. I wanted to do something you hadn’t done. I want to win the league but I want to win it better.
Don Revie: Yeah, but there’s no way you can win it better.
Brian Clough: Why not?
Don Revie: No no no no no.
Brian Clough: I couldn’t give any other answer. And I wanted to win the European Cup.
Don Revie: Truthfully, I think that Brian is a fool to himself.
Brian Clough: I want to be like me. Don obviously wants to be like him. I believe in a different concept of football to Don. I think. Yorkshire Television interview
After modest results with Hartlepool, Clough and Taylor were recruited by then struggling second division Derby County. The year was 1967. Brian Clough: The Greatest Manager the England Team Never Had, BBC 2011
Under the old gaffer’s watchful eye Clough saw his first match in charge of Leeds descend into chaos. ibid.