RUUD GULLIT

People have expectations of me but I'm not a magician.

I like stubborn players. At least they have an opinion. If they are right or wrong, this doesn't matter for me.

I'd like to meet god. Not to question it, just to have a peak at what it is. I say 'it' because we don't know what it is.

I know what it's like to win things. You need a certain type of player with a determination to win. You see it in the eyes.

In L.A., nobody is talking about football. No television stations. You see it nowhere.

Politics and football don't mix.

Often there is a wall between the journalist and the star because there is usually not much time to get to know a person, and the star is always asked the same questions, and may be defensive.

I've taken challenges with the big risk that it can all go wrong. But that's what I like and I'd rather do that than be safe all the time.

We Dutch, we like to have an opinion, a strong opinion. We think we know everything better.

You only stop learning when you quit.

Sometimes I miss coaching, but often things are not how they appear in football.

When I played, I received racial abuse but I was just one of a few black players and we weren't backed up by the authorities.

To play Holland, you have to play the Dutch.

To play for your country is the best thing that can happen.

If a player is racially insulted, he should have the right to leave the field.

Football develops, it becomes quicker, players develop as athletes.

You can't live in history. You've got to build for the future.

If you look at my career, I've never gone to a team that had fulfilled their potential.

Every week you have to play well to be the champion.

When I was young I was one of the second generation of black people in Holland. My father was the first. My mother was white, and living with a black man at that time and having a how-you-say half-caste boy is not easy.

Being a football manager is no fun at all. You have to put up with all the hassle. It is not surprising that so many turn grey or have heart attacks.

If there is a problem, and you don't say anything about it, it's like a cancer and it becomes bigger.

I am happy with everything I achieved in my football career. I don't think I could have done any more.

I am very fit and by playing sweeper I can control the speed of the game.

You have to be open to everything.