Great Sporting Quotes of our time

“I’m sure the England selectors thought if they took me on and gave me the job, I’d want to run the show

“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 on why the English FA were never brave enough to make him national manager. Clough died in September 2004, but the release of the film The Damned United, based on the novel of the same name about his 44-day reign at Leeds United, has him back in the news. What was the biggest mistake of his career?

“Telling the entire world and his dog how good a manager I was. I knew I was the best, but I should have said nowt and kept the pressure off, ’cos they’d have worked it out for themselves.”