Football Experience Quotes

I've known Mark Hughes for half a lifetime. We joined Barcelona in the same summer of 1986, played together under Terry Venables and Luis Aragones, and have kept in touch ever since.

The Champions League is massive. I've had so much experience. I'm only 23, and yet I've played so much in the Champions League, and not many players my age would have had that experience.

I learned a lot at Chelsea partly down to the players I played alongside.

I think the game of football, from a commentating standpoint, is missing something. I think it should be a celebration, and I think it should be enjoyable, and I'm trying to make it that way.

Playing at Birmingham helped me grow as a goalkeeper: it made me better all round, being a regular part of a team.

I have lots of experience in three clubs: I was at Chelsea, then Fiorentina, and then Roma. I have good experience.

Did I ever think at the time, when I was with the Alouettes and the Chicago Blitz, that I would be head-coaching a team in the Super Bowl? It would be hard to believe. Is it a dream come true? Yes.

From my playing experience in Qatar, I know that it is a country and a region which will host a spectacular and passionate World Cup in 2022.

There are not many number fives but the best are Busquets, Tiago, Gabi... I also learn a lot from Xabi Alonso. He is also among the top.

I grew up in Hockley, Birmingham. It was an environment I'll never forget in terms of playing football on local pitches, kicking a ball around in the front garden and all over the house. It was a positive place to live, and somewhere, that gave me the right grounding for where I am today.

Having been in the league with five different franchises, I know what the meaning of Monday Night Football is. It's usually the best games and the greatest venue outside the playoffs.

I've been promoted, relegated, won big trophies, gone months without scoring, played for my country at World Cups, been bought, sold, loaned, and called 'a freak.'

Biggest influence is my parents. It's funny but my mom was the first one that allowed me to play tackle football. My dad was not ready to let me play yet. She definitely was the one who allowed me to do it. Obviously my dad taught me to throw and be a quarterback.

I just remember playing in my school and then getting invited to go along to train with a development squad at Reading. My first training session, the manager said, 'You have to come and play with the academy girls,' so that would probably be my first footballing memory.

I didn't grow up playing football. I wanted to be a basketball player.

I changed my position when I was 16 or 17. I started in midfield or further forward as a number 10, and then in one tournament, we lost two defenders to injury in the same game, and we didn't have any on the bench. So I played at the back, and the manager of the first team saw me, and he said, 'I want this guy in the first team,' and that was that!

I want to be a coach one day. This is important to me. I think I have a pretty good foundation of football schemes and X's and O's.

I worked hard when I played for Manchester City, Bolton, even in Fenerbahce.

As a young kid, you never really understand what it takes to be a footballer: what it's like after you've won or what the changing room is like after a loss, or, as an individual, have you played a good game? Have you played a bad game?

I had a good time at Liverpool. They were great lads. The manager had his reasons to keep me on the bench, and at the same time, they were on a good run.

At 17, I already had responsibility because I took care of my family, but in the football I was young; I wasn't experienced or the captain - I was just in the team.

Traditionally, Seattle has been a great sports town and great football town. What the Huskies have achieved over the years has been pretty amazing. That's how I got my first taste of football - when I went with my father to Husky Stadium.

I don't like sitting on the bench even when it was very rare at Hull to rest during cup games.

I didn't have a clue how big a club Celtic were when I joined.

When I first arrived at Napoli, I was the ball boy, which meant that I got to watch as the legends trained. Then, once I joined the youth team as a young teenager, I was a midfielder just like Tardelli.