Jonathan Agnew Quotes

I think players of the national team are not entitled to make an opinion about who is making the team and who is not. At least in my days it was like that.

You have got to boss scrums. The players need to know what you want them to adhere to. Then it is up to them to decide whether they are adhering to that or not.

Messi would never tell a coach who he has to play or not. I think he not only lacks the power to do that but also is not humanly capable of saying that.

The NBA believes if you play for a team and get paid by a team, you're the property of that team for 24 hours a day.

A chance, as a coach, to take a team to the World Cup finals is probably as high up the tree as it gets, certainly with one-day cricket.

As a leader, you want your team to play as you are.

In international cricket, the core group in most of the teams would remain same. So you know what's expected, but they will operate in different conditions, which is why the homework about conditions is the key.

You cannot just allow your team to stink.

One of the things I like to do is let the players play and the coaches coach.

I know that any group of people can become a team if they do the right things, but I came to realize over time that if you acquire or develop the right kind of people, that process of building a team is going to be much more effective and easier.

I think, in international cricket, your management is about motivating players.

A player-led team is better than a coach-led team, no doubt.

I'm going to give international cricket one more crack. The Pakistan job seems like a perfect fit.

Difference is respected and the environment Eoin Morgan has created is such that we are encouraged to transfer our personalities into our cricket.

Felix Magath works with pressure. At first, we didn't know where we stood with him. That prompted the players to give their best because they wanted to play, but after a while the players knew where they stood and Magath no longer received the same effect.

Van Gaal is a teacher, pays attention to everything you do, but Hiddink is more linked to the players. He gives more freedom than Van Gaal, but I worked with both of them pretty well.

Sometimes you're going to have someone on your team who's just not comfortable with being open. You have to ask yourself, 'Is this person going to allow us to be a real team?' Maybe they're not right for your team. You have to be willing to lose someone sometimes.

At Liverpool, Jurgen pretty much does everything, and we just follow him. Of course, we've still got leaders within the group to implement his message, but more often than not, we listen and then just do what he says.

Every team has leadership. The leadership is the best players. But there's positive leadership, and there's negative leadership.

Every player is free to decide over their future, just like the clubs can decide who they keep.

I've always found that in a team of 15 people, it's a little different than in a team of 40 or 50 people. If I name two or three people captains, inevitably you're disempowering more than you're empowering.

The Reeves Nelson debacle, that hurt me. There are certain things regarding him that I couldn't say then and still can't. But I should have pulled the plug on him after his sophomore year. We tried to make it work, but we couldn't make it happen.

The last thing you want to see is your great players in the press box or in the locker room.

The coach's job is to be part servant in helping each player reach his goals within the team concept.

Culture is very important to the Mavs.... It isn't about who talks the most or the loudest. It is about the demeanor and attitude he brings.