‘I think they had a sneaking suspicion that I would try to run the FA. They were shrewd and absolutely right. I’d have taken over everything.’ 1985
‘I was never going to get that job. But when the FA saw I wasn’t the awful, snarling spitting bombastic bloke they’d imagined, I took them by utter surprise.’
On his interview 1984
‘I was just too risky. The FA wanted Ron Greenwood – good guy, safe but boring. They wanted the whole thing kept cosy. They wanted to take their wives on overseas trips, travelling first class and staying in nice hotels where cocktails were served on the veranda. They wanted to wear the England badge on their blazer. Bugger the World Cup.’
Why he didn’t get the job 1982
‘I’d have tried not to give them the time of day.’
On the FA councillors 1985
‘I might have lasted less than 44 days.’
After being asked whether he’d have been a success with England 1990
‘If the post of England manager had been filled on the basis of outstanding achievement, then Ron Greenwood would not have had a smell.’ 1982
‘If Taylor and I had got that job, we’d have won the bloody thing.’
On England in the 1982 World Cup finals
‘The chance of England disappeared four years ago. I then resigned myself to never getting the job and withdrawing from all future races.’ 1981
‘Barbara said I talked myself out of the England manager’s job. I think she may be right.’ 1990
‘I don’t know who you are and I don’t know who gave you permission to come in here. But fuck off.’
To the England team doctor, who unwisely entered the dressing room with a plate of half time oranges during an England Youth international 1978
‘England managers seem to forget the principles of good management as soon as they get the job. Don Revie did. So did Ron Greenwood. That’s why I’d move the FA to Doncaster if I ever became England boss. I would be as far away from London as I could, then I wouldn’t have the so-called experts giving me advice every ten minutes.’ 1983
‘I wish Robson could have had a friend who would have draped an arm around his shoulders and taken him to one side and said: “Don’t take it, pal. Stay at Ipswich. Put your wife and family foremost. Don’t be a fool. The grass is greenest right here.”’
On Bobby Robson’s decision to leave Ipswich and become England manager 1984
‘I’m fed up with Bobby Robson pointing at his grey hairs and saying that the England manager’s job has aged him 10 years. If he doesn’t like it, why doesn’t he go back to his orchard in Ipswich?’ 1988
‘I could manage England part-time and still walk the dog.’
After his retirement 1993
‘At last England have appointed a manager who speaks better English than the players.’
On the appointment of Sweden’s Sven Goran Eriksson 2001
‘I might be an old codger now and slightly past my best as a gaffer, but the FA know I’ll keep my trousers on.’
In the aftermath of allegations about Sven Goran Eriksson’s personal life 2004
‘I just happen to think I’d have been brilliant.’
On whether he’d have made a good England manager 1993