NIGEL PEARSON

Some people criticise me for not being animated enough, for sitting in stands and not showing any passion. I come down, get involved in a couple of situations and all of a sudden, it's a slightly different angle.

The way football has evolved in some of the bigger leagues in the world, you'd have to say there has become a bigger distance between the contact that you have, for everybody really. It's quite refreshing actually to experience something as simplistic as enjoying winning a game, and the players and the fans being together.

I've noticed being back in football that, after some anonymity, people recognise you again. It's a pain in the neck.

When you lose your job and it is about football, I can quickly put things in order and move on.

I'm not going to all of a sudden start wearing a snazzy suit and putting a scarf around my neck, which seemed to be vogue for about 20 minutes at one point.

I like being out there. I've done Snowdon, walked a bit of the Cleveland Way, did some of the Coast to Coast.

When you play the bigger clubs it's important that when you create chances, you do everything you can to take them.

I won't write a book. I haven't got a magnum opus in me.

I think a lot of people, when the word leadership is used, they think of it as quite forceful and quite a rigid thing. I think people think I am like that. But people can lead in different ways.

Football clubs need to have a better understanding of what the club stands for and how they go about thier business.

Clubs need to take more ownership on how they recruit managers.

The Premier League, the power of it sometimes overtakes the people involved in it.

For players to perform near their best every week is commendable.

Sometimes I just need to be out in nature. It's amazing how much I need time on my own.

I'm very happy to shoulder the responsibility for my football team.

The Derby experience had not been good for me and the way it finished left a very bad taste in my mouth so I questioned whether I wanted to go back into management.

I get worn down by people telling you what you can't do or what the problems are. Go on, give us a solution then.

When things go well I'm always looking for the next hiccup.

I have an understanding of how much is at stake in football, how much money is at stake, how much investment there is and what it means to the fans. It's an emotional game. It's a focal point for communities. It's escapism for fans. Sport is a wonderful thing but it is just that: sport. It is my job.

You always need enough results to buy you time to do things over a longer period of time.

It's never a straightforward thing to do, to be able to inherit a squad. When you're mid-season it's never easy to get a team or a squad of players to function exactly the way you want them to.

Part and parcel of trying to understand and recognise your strengths and weaknesses is to be brutally honest with how you reflect on what you are yourself. I can't fundamentally change what I am.

I find it quite amusing that it's feasible that your opponents can have somebody watching you.

People need to know their role to produce performances and results.

I'm a human being and I will make mistakes from time to time but what I will say is that any mistakes I make are very honest ones.