Quotes

Without the agony, the ecstasy's not quite the same.

[speaking in 2010] At the moment, there are three bodies running English football - the Football Association, the Premier League and the Football League. What we really need is everyone working together for the benefit of the game in this country and the development of young players. Getting that right is all down to proper coaching from an early age. The fact that academies are now controlling the footballing education of our most promising youngsters is a good thing, too. Some of the clubs - not all of them - are teaching kids the right way to play in terms of technique, possession and positioning. They are giving them a greater understanding of the game, too. We might have to wait before the work benefits the senior set-up but starting with the very young is the way England must do it.

[speaking in 2012] Technically, we're way behind some of the nations in world football at the moment.

When you see England pass it's like they've never been introduced to each other.

What happens to some of these players when they pull on an England shirt?

Maradona [Diego Maradona] was unbelievable. By a million miles the best player I played with or against. It's not meant as a pun but his left foot could manipulate the ball as if it were a hand. He was astonishing. Tiny, but unbelievably strong. There are obvious similarities with Messi [Lionel Messi]. They could both beat people, they were both left-footed - Maradona even more so. He barely touched it with his right. They share that ability to ride tackles and extricate themselves from unbelievably tight situations with people around them.

There are massive advantages in playing now. That's why we're seeing scoring records set all over the place. You can't just be kicked constantly, like Diego [Diego Maradona] was in his prime, like most great dribblers were. And the quality of the surfaces they play on. In '86 in Mexico the pitches were like cabbage patches. The goal he scored against us - the good one - they dug the pitch up a few days before and just filled it with small squares of turf. Every time you put your foot on one it moved. To score that goal on that surface showed what a genius he was.

[on Johan Cruijff] I would say quite probably the best European footballer in history. Also a very rare breed in the sense that not only was he a world class footballer, but he was also a world class coach, one of the great coaches of all time as well. I can't think of anyone else who has done that. So he's unique in that sense. But also his great legacy to the sport, what he's given the sport, the style of his football and the grace. Right through to the way Barcelona and Spain play nowadays - that is largely down to his creation.

[after Piers Morgan asked him: Remind me again how many international trophies or English league titles you won in your glittering career?] None, but I shat on the pitch at a World Cup once. How many people can say that?

Football is a simple game. Twenty-two men chase a ball for 90 minutes and at the end, the Germans always win.

[on his political views] I make more runs to the left than the right, but never felt comfortable on the wing.