‘Go home. Sleep on it. If you feel the same way the next morning, take another 24 hours. And then another 24 hours after that. Never resign. I did it once. It was the worst decision I ever made.’
His advice to managers who were contemplating resignation 1982
‘I always said I’d be out of football by the time I was 50. Then I found out that 50 arrived quicker than I anticipated.’ 1990
‘The thing that worries me about retirement is that I’ll have to sit with directors and directors’ wives who have no idea about football. To sit among that lot and listen to the chatter will be a very hard thing to do.’ 1987
‘I am staying here until they shoot me because I am finishing after that.’
Asked whether he would move to another League club before retiring 1987
‘I can’t get the sack. The only way I’m leaving this club is walking out, “quitting” to use one of the scum paper headlines. I ain’t going nowhere until I say “yes”.’
On being asked about his future mid-way through Forest’s relegation season. 1993
‘I don’t want to leave with the indignity, humiliation and pain that goes with losing your job.’
Insisting he would fight on
‘Retirement is something I’ve been thinking about for nine months but like a woman I might use my prerogative and change my mind.’
Announcing his retirement
‘She looked at me and said: “If you are not prepared to go, then I’ll drag you there by your hair”.’
The reply his wife Barbara gave when he told her that he might ‘duck’ his final home match against Sheffield United
‘No disrespect to Dave Bassett ... but I’ve just been relegated ’cos we’ve been pissed on by a team who can’t particularly play.’
After the defeat against Sheffield United that sent Forest down
‘After the last match, I’ll be cutting my ties completely. It’s a joint decision between me and my wife Barbara.’
Dismissing the idea that he might become Forest’s President or join the board.
‘If I went back to the City Ground, I fear I might become a bit of an embarrassment. I know what it is like to follow a manager who was entrenched at one club ... If I joined the board whoever took over would feel like a husband with his mother-in-law in the spare bedroom.’
Explaining why he preferred to stay away
‘Easy to be cross. Easy to be dissatisfied. That’s what you get for looking back. No point – it’s over.’
On whether he had any regrets about retirement
‘I don’t know what I’ll be doing on Saturday afternoons from now on. But I’ll be enjoying myself. Now you lot get out and enjoy yourselves in the second half.’
His final half-time team talk – against Ipswich at Portman Road
‘I have a feeling that, over the season, the manager wasn’t good enough either.’
On taking his share of the blame for relegation
‘I’ve had enough and I’m getting out to enjoy what’s left of my life.’
On bowing out
‘I hope, when I’ve gone, people will say I did it right. I played football on the grass.’
On posterity