SEAN DYCHE

No one seems to want to do anything about diving in the game apart from me. I'm still amazed by it. Kids everywhere are watching, all copying it. No one seems to care about it.

True success for me is allowing players to be better than I was. That is what I went into coaching for and I've not lost sight of that.

I remember all the magic markers of the first time I heard the Stone Roses and that Madchester vibe, the Verve and all these groups coming up.

You need doors to open, you need a chance - and you have got to have something, to take your chance when the door opens at the right time. My first port of call was to be a manager, then it was a successful manager, then it was a Premier League manager.

A good player is a good player, it's just that we cannot afford signings that do not work.

The mind tells you that you should use the Europa League as your pre-season but you don't really because the players aren't silly, they know it's a real game.

If I can understand them better as a person then I can understand how to make them a better player too.

Life coaching, the mental and physical well-being of footballers, is going to be really important. I don't mean necessarily in a deep psychological way. But they're surrounded by a lot of people. Important people, seemingly. Not always. But important in their worlds. They're mini companies.

In this game you can waste a lot of energy wondering about other people's opinions when the one that actually counts is yours. Because that's your job, to lead and to manage.

Established is a dangerous word for me. It could imply a modicum of complacency.

I was a player who got the job done, and I think I'm kind of maybe thought of like that as a manager.

The game shapes you. I played for 20 years at all levels, apart from the Premier League. I had a disaster at Bristol City, where in two years I learnt more about myself, the industry, fans, how you get treated, than I ever learnt in my career.

I was sacked at Watford for a change of business plan. Anything can happen in this game. I can't say I am never surprised because there are some surprises and there are still some crazy things that happen.

Whether people think I'm old fashioned, I don't care. I've always been very comfortable in my own skin. I've never been a brandist, I don't use words like philosophy, that sort of stuff isn't for me.

If there is a flaw in the academy system it's that they try to tell them everything. Kids are taught the same. They look the same. So you're constantly looking for the X factor. It's the hardest thing, that mystical ingredient, instinct, the four-second hit, like/dislike, it can come unbelievably quickly.

As a manager, everyone is clambering for you to do something. It comes from the media, the fans, the board and even your own staff sometimes. The strongest thing can be to do nothing and remind the players of the simplicity of the format. The players have taken ownership of that.

I saw Metallica, I'm not a major Metallica fan, but I like music enough to get invited and went.

I look at the group I've got and then I decide what strengths and weaknesses they have and then I formulate an appropriate way the players can work in order to be collectively successful.

I won promotion four times as a player, and I'm not going to deny I would enjoy another one as a manager, but you can ask any of the clubs I went up with and they will tell you the same. My focus was always dead calm, always on the next game.

There's a bit of a myth that you pre-suppose every European player is better than every English player.

I don't think I've ever been a fashion item, I don't think I was as a player.

Football management is about managing people.

Consistency of performance is essential. You don't have to be exceptional every week but as a minimum you need to be at a level that even on a bad day you get points on the board.

Life's not a dress-rehearsal. So if you want to do it; do it.

I'm not one of those football people who thinks and talks nothing but football.