Famous Quotes Of 2017 (Part 3)

July

“I like to imitate Antonio Conte a bit sometimes in Italian, because he has key words that he wants to use. For example, when he says switch the play or change sides to the other side, those things. But he says it in a bit of an Italian way, so I like always to imitate him a bit. After we won the league, all the players said: ‘Thibaut go to the microphone on the bus’ and I did him a bit. We could see him and he was laughing and it was funny.”

– Thibaut Courtois has some fun with Antonio Conte following Chelsea’s title win

“It feels great to be back. To be honest, I’ve kept it quiet for the last 13 years, but I’ve actually been wearing Everton pyjamas at home with my kids. I had to keep that a bit quiet!”

– Wayne Rooney reveals a secret after completing his return to boyhood club Everton

My first Sunday League team manager was a man called Dennis Schofield, who was a milkman. He was on the way home from his milk round, stopped off, seen me playing football for my primary school, watched me play, approached my mum, and said ‘I understand you’re the mum of Ryan, does he play for a team?'”

– Ryan Giggs takes a trip down memory lane

“Se queda”

– Gerard Pique posted a confident prediction on social media that Neymar would be sticking around at Barcelona

August

“It was an enormous pleasure to have shared these years with you Neymar, friend. I wish you a lot of luck in the next stage of your life. See you. Love you a lot.”

– Lionel Messi posts a farewell message to Neymar on his Instagram page 

“I had the honour of playing with the best athlete I have ever seen in my life and I’m sure that I will never see another one like him while I’m alive – Leo Messi.”

– Neymar responds to his former Barcelona team-mate after sealing a world-record move to PSG worth around £200m

Our lads, our team, our Club. Welcome to the Premiership, you marvels.

– Patrick Stewart revels in Huddersfield Town’s top-flight return 

“You can’t live in Liverpool for the rest of your life.”

– Paul Merson has some advice for Ross Barkley after the Everton midfielder turned down a deadline-day move to Chelsea 

“Unfortunately no one speaks about the performance of Rob Holding. You should be happy, he is English and 20 years old. I am sorry he didn’t cost £55m, so he can’t be good.”

– Arsene Wenger on Rob Holding’s strong finish to the season 

“You can say to me I’m wealthy, in theory I’m a billionaire or a multi-billionaire, but in reality my wealth is in Sports Direct shares, which are the same as wallpaper. I don’t have that cash in the bank, so I don’t have that ability to write a cheque for £200m.”

– Mike Ashley opens up about his time in the hot-seat at Newcastle 

“I am not saying buy 10 players, I’d love to see two or three – and not players you have to Google and say, ‘Who’s that?’ I mean well-known players.”

– Danny Rose makes his opinions known on Tottenham’s summer transfer activity 

September

“I’m not going to write off the last seven years as a failure because Alan Shearer thinks I didn’t take enough time.”

– Crystal Palace chairman Steve Parish rejects criticism from the former England captain after the club sack manager Frank de Boer just 77 days into the job 

“Tell the coach driver to do his job and check if there’s traffic.”

– Sheffield United boss Chris Wilder bemoans Norwich City’s failure to submit their team sheet on time 

“For me, as coach, it is important to see who I can rely on in moments like these, who is prepared to defend himself against what is going on on the pitch. To encounter such an atmosphere was too much for some.”

– RB Leipzig manager Ralph Hasenhüttl after striker Timo Werner asked to be substituted due to the noise in a Champions League game at Besiktas 

“I had hoped the cat would be worse than me. But no, the cat was fine. It lived for many more years.”

– Ex-Hull boss Leonid Slutsky opens up about the welfare of the cat he fell from a tree attempting to rescue, resulting in a career-ending knee injury 

October

“They won’t win 8-0, what a stupid question that is.”

– Netherlands boss Dick Advocaat ahead of World Cup qualification rivals Sweden’s crunch match against Luxembourg. Sweden went on to win 8-0, effectively eliminating the Dutch 

“We just had a little discussion. A minute later, that’s forgotten. I have those discussions sometimes with my wife too. You too, I suppose. Sometimes it’s needed.”

– Kevin de Bruyne on his caught-on-camera spat with David Silva at half time during Man City’s Champions League victory against Napoli 

“I told you, lions don’t recover like humans. That I have now proved, rather than just saying it. I am just thankful I am able to run, do my things, do a little bit of ‘abracadabra’ magic – things that a lion does!”

– Zlatan Ibrahimovic on the remarkable speed of his return from injury 

“You sacrifice, you work hard, harder, you give more than what’s expected, and often more than you can, because you love what you do and clearly more than you should and what do you get back? Literally, nothing.”

– Chelsea youngster Charly Musonda exhibits his frustration at the lack of first-team opportunities at Chelsea under Antonio Conte 

“What I do know is that genetically we are behind. In the last campaign we were the second smallest squad behind Spain. Genetically we have to work at things. It is a problem for us.”

– Scotland boss Gordon Strachan puts an unusual spin on his side’s struggles

“I think you are almost deemed as second class because it is your country.”

– Sam Allardyce on the perceived lack of Premier League opportunities for English managers 

November

“It is an intolerable football shame, an indelible stain.”

– Italian newspaper Corriere dello Sport responds to Italy’s failure to qualify for the World Cup for the first time since 1950

“He is almost a victim of his own success.”

– Goalkeeper Ben Foster after West Brom sack Tony Pulis with the club fourth from bottom and winless in ten games

“I was telling Redmond how good he is. Southampton have some super-talented players and last season Redmond scored a superb one-on-one against us, he destroyed us, but here Southampton did not want to play. They were time wasting from the ninth minute. I just wanted them to play.”

– Pep Guardiola on his bizarre confrontation with Southampton’s Nathan Redmond after City’s 2-1 win against Saints at the Etihad 

“Sevilla FC wants to show their maximum support to their coach at this time and wishes him a speedy recovery.”

– Sevilla issue a statement offering their support to manager Argentine Berizzo after he is diagnosed with prostate cancer on November 22nd. Then… 

“The Board of Directors has taken the decision to dismiss the coach of the first team, Eduardo Berizzo, due to the team’s bad run.”

– The club announced the sacking of Berizzo one month later, just days after he returned to work following surgery 

“Half our fans have gone home so I’d like to say to them: you should have stayed. Our boys need you. Why didn’t you stay? Everyone who did, fantastic, well done. Don’t go home early, if you don’t mind – stay there.”

– QPR boss Ian Holloway slams supporters who left before the final whistle and missed a stoppage-time fightback against Brentford. He later apologised but urged fans to “fight” along with him and his team

December

“We are in the second year of trying to rebuild a football team that is not one of the best teams in the world. Manchester City buy full-backs for the price of strikers.”

– Jose Mourinho weirdly discusses the disparity in resources available to his side compared with their cross-town neighbours after United were held to a draw at home to Burnley 

“Some players have childish decisions and time helps them to have maturity and to decide better. But some other players stay with childish decisions until the end of their career.”

– And the Manchester United manager has some choice words for his players after watching them throw away a 2-1 lead in stoppage time against Leicester 

“I’m very proud, I’m super proud, I’m the proudest man in Proudsville.”

– Burnley manager Sean Dyche after seeing his side move up to fourth place in the Premier League with a 1-0 win over Stoke 

“I think today, (number) one striker in the world, specific position, who’s better than him? He deserves everything. It’s been nine years between [Cristiano] Ronaldo and [Lionel] Messi, and now Kane’s name is there. It’s a fantastic achievement and I’m so happy for him.”

– Mauricio Pochettino lauds praise on Harry Kane after the striker broke Alan Shearer’s long-standing record of Premier League goals scored in a calendar year 

“It’s a lot of money! When I first heard it I thought ‘wow, £75m’. I’m not surprised by the actual transfer but that is an incredible amount of money.”

– Gary Neville reacts to Virgil Van Dijk’s transfer from Southampton to Liverpool for £75m – a world record for a defender 

“I think I’m capable of doing the job at any club in the world so I’m sure I can do it at West Ham.”

– David Moyes in confident mood following an upswing in results for his West Ham side 

“I don’t know what you mean…what do you want us to do? We played five at the back – do you want me to play seven along the back, one midfielder, one goalkeeper and a striker?”

– Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers forgets how many players there are in a football team following his team’s 7-1 drubbing against PSG in Paris 

“It hurts. A stabbing would have been better than this goal.”

– AC Milan manager Gennaro Gattuso feels the pain after bottom-side Benevento’s last-minute equaliser against his struggling side