`Take That You C***` And More...

Posted 23/04/09 12:19EmailPrintSave

...on the famous 'prawn sandwich' brigade (2000)

"Sometimes you wonder, do they understand the game of football? We're 1-0 up, then
there are one or two stray passes and they're getting on players' backs. It's just
not on. At the end of the day they need to get behind the team. Away from home our
fans are fantastic, I'd call them the hardcore fans. But at home they have a few
drinks and probably the prawn sandwiches, and they don't realise what's going on
out on the pitch. I don't think some of the people who come to Old Trafford can
spell football, never mind understand it."

...on 'that' tackle on Alf-Inge Haaland (2002)

"I'd waited long enough. I f*****g hit him hard. The ball was there (I think). Take
that you c**t. And don't ever stand over me sneering about fake injuries."

...on 'that' tackle on Alf-Inge Haaland again (2002)

"Even in the dressing room afterwards, I had no remorse. My attitude was, f*** him.
What goes around comes around. He got his just rewards. He f***ed me over and my
attitude is an eye for an eye."

...to Mick McCarthy in Saipan (2002)

"I didn't rate you as a player, I don't rate you as a manager and I don't rate you
as a person. You're a f****** w*****. You can stick your World Cup up your
b*******."

...on McCarthy (2002)

"That man can rot in hell for all I care."

...on the scourge of diving (2005)

"Before the game there was all this stuff about anti-racism and anti-bullying. It
would be a good idea to start wearing wristbands for anti-diving."

...on protecting the Neviller against Vieira (2005)

"I don't want to go into too much detail but Patrick Vieira is 6ft 4in and he
starts having a go at Gary Neville. So I said, 'Come and have a go at me'. It's as
simple as that. If a player wants to try and intimidate some of my team-mates then
let's have a go at some of the other players. They think Gary Neville's an easy
target. And I'm not having it."

...on The Neviller (2005)

"Maybe Gary deserves to be chased up a tunnel every now and then - there would be a
queue for him, probably. But you have to draw a line eventually."

...on Rio Ferdinand (2005)

"Just because you are paid 120,000 pounds a week and play well for 20 minutes
against Tottenham, you think you are a superstar."

...on the United squad (2005)

"The younger players have been let down by some of the more experienced ones - they
are not leading. There is a shortage of characters. The players have been asked
questions and they are just not coming up with the answers. I am sick of having to
say it and they are sick of listening to me. They have let down the club, the
manager and the fans."

...on cheating in the game (2006)

"Players are conning each other, I'm glad I'm not playing any more, especially in
the Premiership. There's a lot of sneaky stuff going on that makes it hard for
referees."

...on McCarthy again (2006)

"The bottom line is that if a manager accuses me of faking injury I will not accept
it. And I won't accept it to the day I die."

...on dropping players for being late (2007)

"If you work and train hard you are going to get your chance. If you mess about,
you will suffer. It's very, very straight forward. It will be dealt with and it's
history; we move on. Some lads make genuine mistakes and I know they've not killed
anybody. I can be quite a forgiving person but ultimately the team comes first."

...on England's talent and ego (2007)

"You look at the talent and the technique of the players, and England have that -
they have that in abundance. But I do believe there are too many egos about in the
England set-up and that has cost them dear."
...on WAGS calling the shots (2007)
"Greed will always be a part of the game and that will never change. But this side
of it, with the women running the show, worries me. Football must be your priority.
You don't need to live in London or Manchester to be happy. You don't need to be
surrounded by expensive shops or fancy caf�s. If someone doesn't want to come to
Sunderland then all well and good. But if it's because their wife wants to go
shopping in London, then it's a sad state of affairs."

...on his hypocritical fellow managers (2008)

"There's one or two clubs where their staff are a disgrace, an absolute disgrace to
football. Their managers are worse because they step by and let it happen - 'It's
nothing to do with me.' There's one club in particular, a disgrace, an absolute
disgrace."

...on being on the TV (2008)

"I was asked by ITV to do the Celtic versus Manchester United game but I've done it
once for Sky and never again. I'd rather go to the dentist."

...on being abused by fans (2008)

"Abuse may be part of football but I won't tolerate it. I appreciate constructive
criticism, which I'm going to receive, and trust me, my biggest critic is myself.
In football, everyone has short memories. We've got some bloody brilliant
supporters but you always remember the idiots. Some people were targeting me. I'm
not going to go into it but that's something I've not come into the job to accept."

...on resignation (2008)

"I ask myself every day if I'm the right man for Sunderland. I asked myself this
morning, and I said I was. Sunday morning, if the answer's no, we'll have to look
at it."

...on heart attack victim Clive Clarke (2009)

"On a night we got beaten in the cup by Luton, the staff came in and said, 'Clive
Clarke has had a heart attack at Leicester'. I said, 'Is he OK? I'm shocked they
found one, you could never tell by the way he plays'. Clarke later goes and does a
piece in some newspaper telling the world that I have lost the dressing room. How
does he know? He wasn't there! Clown."

...on a possible comeback (2009)

"Alex Ferguson comes out and says, 'You never know what he is going to do next.'
What did he think I was going to do? Go backpacking around Mexico? I have five
kids. Football is in my blood, I'd just had enough at Sunderland. Things had
changed. End of bloody story."