The Wisdom of Gaffers

I thought they were immense in terms of their desire to not lose a football match.

Paul Cox, Mansfield Town, October 2013.

The opposition were magnificent in the pursuit of trying to win the match.

Keith Hill, Rochdale, October 2013.

:D the universal consciousness has spoken

saw one of the gaffers itt this week looking particularly glum

― fake irish times letters mac d (nakhchivan), Friday, 18 October 2013 18:49 (5 days ago)

RIP

tulse hill m8

surrey

was it one of those abysmal M25proximate gated model villages

nah he was near a restaurant which i suspect he may have just left

seemed somewhat sheeping possibly because i was staring at him and he suspected i was going to go on some JEDINAK IS FUCKING SHIT M8 diatribe except i was just trying to work out who that uncannily familiar short swarthy bald dude who i had never seen before actually was

lol sheepish

honestly i was just trying to get back to the carpark in one piece because it was midafternoon and i still hadn't had any caffeine or food and the last thing i wanted to do was traumatize another living soul, much less one on death row

ian holloway has stared at nakhchivan in his glory. fucken jealous of holloway

I can't have a confident, compact, 'everybody in it together' football club if some supporters are shouting at me to get some of the players off who are 'rubbish'.

They're not rubbish. They're exceptional people who are standing up to the challenges and the demands that I put in front of them. I never call my players rubbish and I wouldn't dare show them that lack of respect.

Keith Hill, Rochdale, October 2013.

We looked as if we'd turned up for a tea party in London

Steve Evans, Rotherham United, October 2013.

In the Championship the blue sky doesn't exist every weekend

Billy Davies, Nottingham Forest, October 2013.

If you fail or are successful you have to look yourself in the mirror and think you've done it the way you've done it yourself.

Ronnie Jepson, Bury, October 2013.

We didn't attack that first sort of ball booted up front by them

He'll now get the realism that he can score in this league

Guy Whittingham, Portsmouth, October 2013.

If you fail or are successful you have to look yourself in the mirror and think you've done it the way you've done it yourself.

Paul Anka looking at this and realising the lyrics to 'My Way' could have been so much better.

The first goal was fit to grace most pitches

Sean Dyche, Burnley, October 2013.

If you ask my wife and kids, they hate seeing their husband and dad with a miserable face so turning 41 tomorrow, I will be sitting around the dining table and they will see their dad smiling for the first time in a while so hopefully there will be some photographs taken.

Lee Clark, Birmingham City, October 2013.

Millwall worked very hard to justify that they should go away with something.

Nigel Adkins, Reading, October 2013.

We believe that if you keep pushing up your performance levels and keep them at a high level, over time you will win plenty of football matches.

We are a 'town club' and a club that supports the town, and that link has become more authentic with the realities. They're not negative realities, they're just realities.

Sean Dyche, Burnley, October 2013.

I said before all my players have flaws. That's why they play for Crawley.

If they didn't have a flaw they're all good players and then they would go and play for somebody else.

Richie Barker, Crawley Town, October 2013.

I like my subs sometimes to come on and change the game

John Sheridan, Plymouth Argyle, November 2013.

(the previous two are November as well. Bloody time)

(The conditions) were the worst I've known, and I'm 63.

John Still, Luton Town, November 2013.

We stressed all week that the tempo of the game is going to be very, very hot

Brian Laws, Scunthorpe United, November 2013.

You're never going to dominate a game for 90 minutes, no matter who you're playing.

Graham Alexander, Fleetwood Town, November 2013.

I want to implement my own style of personality on this club.

What I want to do is stand there on the side of the pitch and look at a team that works unbelievably hard and represents what I am as a man.

Shaun Derry, Notts County, November 2013.

We are where we want to be which is in front of the TV tomorrow afternoon watching the second-round draw.

Richie Barker, Crawley Town, November 2013.

They're a group of young players but they can't keep using that excuse. They've got to start taking responsibility, stop hiding behind myself.

Mark Cooper, Swindon Town, November 2013.

^yes

derry's dream become cooper's nightmare

You try something, and if people are not capable of doing it, you have to think about it.

Tony Burman, Dartford, November 2013.

I thought we had seven or eight good chances where we've not pulled the trigger or had the desire that the ball finishes in the back of the net.

Mark Yates, Cheltenham Town, November 2013.

It is frustrating, but if I was sat there thinking I got the tactics wrong, I would look closer to myself. Unfortunately, you put your faith in other people when you throw them out there.

Richie Barker, Crawley Town, November 2013.

We've agreed to cover the cost of the fans that travelled. Not because we're creeping, it's a gesture of appreciation.

Mark Cooper, Swindon Town, November 2013.

A couple of lads turned up late because of a fire on the M6, but you can't use that as an excuse.

Jim Bentley, Morecambe, November 2013.

✓

We are only going to be successful if we taste failure. We have tasted it and we don't like it.

Russell Slade, Leyton Orient, November 2013.

It's not quite Ocean's Eleven, it's more Ocean's Three, so we hope to bring one or two others as well.

Terry Butcher, Hibernian, November 2013

I said last week that we hadn't turned the corner but I think we are further into turning the corner.

Richie Barker, Crawley Town, November 2013.

We can't look for reasons or excuses

Graham Turner, Shrewsbury Town, November 2013.

There was a sentimental fatigue and probably a physical fatigue.

Graham Westley, Stevenage, November 2013.

(actually, it appears that Westley one is just a case of dodgy transcription rather than what he actually said)

“We have to believe in what we do. We’ve had a few variables that have been changing a lot over the course of the last month, and I need to try to put more constants back into the game and back into the performance, and make fewer variables to discuss, quantify, assess and coach – and we’ll get back on it.

Paul Tisdale, Exeter City, November 2013.

Actually, there's more of this which I think is worth it.

I’ve had a day or two in my study looking at all the factors. There’s what we’ve been coaching – as there’s often a correlation between what you coach and how the performance manifests itself – but also players in and out of form, combinations of players, systems, opposition, league, statistics and evidence.

I’ve been swamped in evidence, rumour, gossip, discussion, debate and everything else – my job is to pick through it all and pick out one or two things to concentrate on, and I have done. That’s my job and I pride myself on digging deep.

Paul Tisdale, Exeter City, November 2013.

(Tis has a particular way of expressing himself which can be hilariously at the managementspeak end of wisdom-of-gaffers but when he says something like that he's generally getting at something or other. I think in this case he's trying to convey to people that deciding on a team and tactics is complicated, and tweaking teams is even more so.)

If we don't win, on a Sunday morning it really doesn't work for me. I get a real strong feeling of anger. A real strong feeling of frustration. A strong feeling of looking in the mirror and hating myself.

That isn't a good way for me to be and live.

It's not a question of just needing to win because of a league position. That would be the last thing in the world that would drive me. What would drive me is my personal pride, desire and hunger.

Graham Westley, Stevenage, November 2013.

"A strong feeling of looking in the mirror and hating myself."

amazing

Accrington is the one of the places that nobody wants to go to. The surroundings aren't the greatest but you've just got to go there and play.

Alan Knill, Torquay United, November 2013.