Bill Shankly :
"Of course I didn't take my wife to see Rochdale as an anniversary present. It was her birthday. Would I have got married in the football season? Anyway, it was Rochdale reserves."

Bill Shankly :
"Some people believe football is a matter of life and death, I am very disappointed with that attitude. I can assure you it is much, much more important than that."

Bill Shankly :
"If a player is not interfering with play or seeking to gain an advantage, then he should be."

Bob Paisley :
"If you're in the penalty area and don't know what to do with the ball, put it in the net and we'll discuss the options later."

Bill Shankly :
"If Everton were playing at the bottom of the garden, I'd pull the curtains."

David Speedie when he joined Liverpool towards the end of the Dalglish era and the talk was of a club sliding into a crisis :
"If you think this club is in crisis, you've never been to some of the places I have."

Howard Wilkinson :
"I'm a firm beleiver that if the other side scores first you have to score twice to win."

Alex Ferguson :
"If we can play like that every week we'll get some level of consistency."

Ian Rush (on his time at Juventus) :
"It was like playing in a foreign country."

Bob Paisley :
"Still we've had the hard times too - one year we finished second."

Bill Shankly (to Tommy Smith) :
"You son, you could start a riot in a graveyard."

Bill Shankly (on the day he signed Ian St John) :
"Son, you'll do well here as long as you remember two things. Don't over-eat and don't lose your accent."

Roy Evans :
"I've been on this planet for 45 years, and have supported Liverpool for 42 of them."

Kevin Keegan (Newcastle manager - April 1994) :
"Sir John Hall was a multi-millionaire when I came back to Newcastle. With all the players I've bought, I'm trying to make him just an ordinary millionaire."

Bruce Grobbelaar :
"Bruce Grobbelaar will play on until he is 40 - and at the top level."

Keith Burkinshaw (former WBA manager) :
"People complain about the number of games, but when Liverpool were dominating Europe they were playing twice a week."

Bill Shankly (to Kevin Keegan) :
"Just go out and drop a few hand-grenades all over the place, son."

Elderly Bolton fan during their 2-0 defeat of Liverpool :
"It's nice t'see t'lads playing in white socks again."

Ian Rush :
"It's best being a striker. If you miss five, then score the winner, you're a hero. The goalkeeper can play a blinder, then let one in ... and he's a villain."

Neil Ruddock (on Liverpool's 100% start to the 1994-95 season):
"On those performances I reckon we would have taken Brazil."

Roy Evans (on Ian Rush's 600th Liverpool appearance) :
"He's better than Brian Lara because he's 600 not out. What a guy."

Graeme Souness (after Rob Jones' debut at Manchester United):
"It looks as if this boy is going to be some player."

Jim Rosenthal - TV Football reporter :
"There's nothing like second best, and Liverpool certainly are not!"

Bill Shankly (on Brian Clough) :
"He's worse than the rain in Manchester. At least the rain in Manchester stops occasionally."

Bill Shankly (to Tommy Smith, who tried to explain that his bandaged knee was injured) :
"Take that bandage off. And what do you mean about YOUR knee? It's Liverpool's knee!"

Bill Shankly (to the journalist suggesting Liverpool were in difficulties) :
"Ay, here we are with problems at the top of the league."

Bill Shankly (to a translator, when being surrounded by gesticulating Italian journalists) :
"Just tell them I completely disagree with everything they say!"

Bill Shankly (about the "This is Anfield" plaque) :
"It's there to remind our lads who they're playing for, and to remind the opposition who they're playing against."

Bill Shankly (to Alan Ball, who'd just signed for Everton) :
"Don't worry, Alan. At least you'll be able to play close to a great team!"

A scout told Shanks about a young player who he'd given a trial at Liverpool
"He has football in his blood," the disappointed scout complained. "You may be right," Shanks said, "but it hasn't reached his legs yet!"

Ray Kennedy (former Arsenal, Liverpool and England player, who has Parkinson's disease) :
"I don't want people to feel sorry for me. I'm not a cripple. There are many worse off."

Ian Rush (after scoring at Chelsea in his final league game before joining Juventus) :
"See this shirt - I'm keeping it because it will be one of my most treasured possessions. It's only just beginning to sink in that it's all over for me as Liverpool player."

Graeme Souness (August 1987 as Rangers' new manager) :
"My plans for Rangers can only be achieved by buying. I don't have time for young players to mature. That could take five years, and by then I could be out the door."

Fulham Programme, trailing their Littlewoods Cup-tie, second leg, against Liverpool after losing the first 10-0 :
"Should the aggregate score be level after 90 minutes, extra time will be played."

Michael Laudrup (Jan 1987) :
"I will stay with Juventus until 1989, and then I think I'll join Liverpool."

Bobby Robson (after Liverpool's shock FA Cup Final defeat by Wimbledon) :
"I didn't want Kenny to be criticised, but I'm amazed nobody said a word against him. If England had lost at Wembley as unexpectedly as Liverpool, I would have been slaughtered."

Paul Walsh (when he joined Tottenham from Liverpool in Feb 1988/9) :
"There is no sentiment at Anfield. When your number is up it's up."

Bill Shankly (at Dixie Dean's funeral) :
"I know this is a sad occasion but I think that Dixie would be amazed to know that even in death he could draw a bigger crowd than Everton can on a Saturday Afternoon."

Bill Shankly (when told he had never experienced playing in a derby) :
"Nonsense! I've kicked every ball, headed out every cross. I once scored a hat-trick; One was lucky, but the others were great goals."

Bill Shankly (after beating Everton in the '71 cup semi) :
"Sickness would not have kept me away from this one. If I'd been dead, I would have had them bring the casket to the ground, prop it up in the stands and cut a hole in the lid."

Bill Shankly (to a photographer who suggested Brian Clough was outspoken) :
"Laddie, that man scored 200 goals in 270 matches - an incredible record - and he has won cup after cup as a manager. When he talks, pin back your ears."

Bill Shankly (to a Liverpool fan) :
"Where are you from?"
"I'm a Liverpool fan from London."
"Well laddie . . . . What's it like to be in heaven?"

Avi Cohen (to Kenny Dalglish on the day that Cohen joined the club) :
"You, me, same."
Dalglish, perplexed, just nodded. But when the next day Cohen said the same thing.
Dalglish said, "What are you talking about, Avi?" "You, me, same. Both learn English."

Bill Shankly :
"A lot of football success is in the mind. You must believe you are the best and then make sure that you are. In my time at Liverpool we always said we had the best two teams on Merseyside, Liverpool and Liverpool Reserves."

Bill Shankly :
"If you are first you are first. If you are second, you are nothing."

Bill Shankly :
"The trouble with referees is that they know the rules, but they do not know the game."

Bill Shankly (to a reporter in the 60's) :
"Yes, Roger Hunt misses a few, but he gets in the right place to miss them."

Bill Shankly (after signing Ron Yeats) :
"With him in defence, we could play Arthur Askey in goal."

Bill Shankly (after a hard fought 1-1 draw) :
"The best side drew."

Bill Shankly (after a 0-0 draw at Anfield) :
"What can you do, playing against 11 goalposts?"

Bill Shankly (to the players after failing to sign Lou Macari) :
"I only wanted him for the reserves."

Jock Stein (on Shanks) :
"I don't believe everything Bill tells me about his players. If they were that good, they'd not only have won the European Cup but the Ryder Cup, the Boat Race and even the Grand National!"

Phil Boersma (on the moment Souness told him that he was having a heart bypass) :
"He's a vain bastard, I thought he was going to tell me that he was having a nose job."

Bill Shankly (talking to a Liverpool trainee) :
"The problem with you, son, is that all your brains are in your head"

Alan McInally ([ex Celtic, Aston Villa and Bayern Munich] during a Rangers v Hearts game) :
"Yes, it looks as if Hearts have reverted to a five man back four."

Graham Turner (former Wolves manager) :
"People always remember the second half."

Ray Harford (former Luton manager, after goalkeeper Les Sealey was concussed in collision with an opponent) :
"He still looks a bit dopey, but it's hard to tell the difference with him."

Notice (in Derby County's dressing-room, put up by Brian Clough when he was manager and still there) :
"The biggest crime in football is to give the ball to the opposition."

Dave Bassett (when Wimbledon were top of the first division after four games) :
"My mum wants the season to end tomorrow."

Brian Clough (on his young Forest side) :
"Acne is a bigger problem than injuries."

John McGrath (former Preston manager, recalling his days as Newcastle centre-half) :
"Joe Harvey once said to me: 'I've got a special job for you today. I want to see how fast their centre-forward can limp.'"

Dave Bassett (after another Wimbledon defeat) :
"I'm not too happy with our attack. Some of them couldn't hit a cow's backside with a banjo."

Howard Wilkinson (after a one-all draw) :
"If they hadn't scored, we would've won"

Anonymous Southampton fan after the match-rigging allegations :
"I'd rather have Bruce Grobbelaar trying to lose than Dave Beasant trying to win."

Neil Ruddock (on a penalty awarded after a "foul" by him on Tottenham's Jurgen Klinsmann - David James saved the ensuing spot-kick) :
"I looked around and it was the usual prostrate Klinsmann. In the end justice was done."

Robbie Fowler :
"Anyone who doesn't learn from Ian Rush needs shooting"

Bill Shankly (on Ian St.John) :
"He's not just the best centre-forward in the British Isles, but the only one."

Ian St. John (on his winning goal in the 1965 FA Cup Final) :
"The goal looked as big as the Mersey Tunnel"

Bob Paisley (on Billy Liddell) :
"Bill was so strong it was unbelievable. You couldn't shake him off the ball. It didn't matter where he was playing, though I suppose his best position was outside-left. He could go round you, or past you, or even straight through you sometimes!"

Billy Liddell (on ex-Scotland partner, Billy Steele) :
"He made it clear he couldn't care less how the team got on provided he had a good game."

Ian Callaghan (on Ronnie Moran) :
"I don't know how I would have managed without him. It was a big step up playing in the first team, and I don't know how I would have coped without someone keeping an eye on me and helping me out of difficult situations. I soon learned that at Liverpool, we were essentially part of a team and depended on each other."

Bill Shankly (on Ian Callaghan) :
"He typifies everything that is good in football, and he has never changed. You could stake your life on Ian."

Tommy Smith :
"I said to Kevin (Keegan) 'I'll go near post' and he replied 'No, just go for the ball'."

Emlyn Hughes :
"Liverpool are magic .... Everton are tragic."

Ray Clemence :
"Sometimes I feel I'm hardly wanted in this Liverpool team. If I get two or three saves to make I've had a busy day."

Kevin Keegan :
"The only thing I fear is missing an open goal in front of the Kop. I would die if that were to happen. When they start singing 'You'll Never Walk Alone' my eyes start to water. There have been times when I've actually been crying while I've been playing".

Bob Bevan (on Tony Adams' drink-driving conviction) :
"I hear Tony Adams is appealing. Apparently he wasn't pissed. He was just trying to get the wall back another 10 yards."

Joe Royle (on Earl Barrett) :
"The trouble with Earl is that he's one paced .... Zooommmmm."

David Lacey (football writer for The Guardian) :
"Batty would probably get himself booked playing Handel's Largo."

Graham Taylor (on Tony Daley) :
"He's only got one trick, but it's a good one isn't it ?"

Joe Lovejoy (on Bruce Grobbelaar) :
"The elastic eccentric."

Andy Roxburgh (on Gheorghe Hagi) :
"He's a brilliant player but we're no getting all psychedelic about him."

Steve McManaman's father (1991) :
"We've another boy who's ten and if he sees a tin can on his way to school, he steps over it. Steven was the opposite."

Brian Glanville (football writer) :
"Molby looked corpulent enough to be playing darts for Denmark."

Hugh McIlvanney (on Jan Molby) :
"Beneath the drayman's body, his feet remain as nimble as a ballet dancer's."

Tommy Docherty (on Mark Wright) :
"He'd get an injury of he went on Question of Sport."

Dave Lancaster (Chesterfield striker, after their 4-4 Coke Cup draw at Anfield) :
"I thought there might be eight goals but I never thought we would get four of them."

Brian Gayle (Sheffield United player, after their 2-0 victory over Liverpool in 1992) :
"Beating them isn't special any more."

Anfield badge (1990) :
"There's only one United - the biscuit."

Steve Coppell (Crystal palace manager, on their 1990 FA Cup semi against Liverpool) :
"To be honest I thought in extra time both teams had settled for a replay. I was panicking then, because I hadn't re-booked our hotel for midweek."

Phil Thompson (On Sky Sports, about Rene Higuita's 'scorpion' save from Jamie Redknapp in the England vs Colombia match September 1995) :
"It was like Bruce Grobbelaar with hair."

Eric Cantona (Explaining his second sending off in consecutive games at Arsenal, 1994) :
"The first wasn't a foul, so I thought, if they want a foul I'll give them a foul."

Peter Beardsley (1994) :
"I could have signed for Newcastle when I was 17, but I decided I would be better off at Carlisle. I'd had a drink that night."

Neil Ruddock (On his love-handle weight problem, 1994) :
"I was in a hotel for six months and I just couldn't get rid of it."

Gordon Strachan (On the perils of heat treatment and ice-packs, 1993) :
"My bum has been through every temperature known to man."

John Scales (1993) :
"For a bet I once ate three Mexican chillies. I thought I was really smart after I'd eaten them and then about 30 seconds later I came out in a serious sweat and a horrible rash. But I won the bet and took the money."

Chris Kiwomya (1993) :
"Girls first; football second."

Steve McMahon (1991) :
"I'd kick my own brother if necessary ... it's what being a professional footballer is all about."

Graeme Souness (On Robbie Fowler, when the press asked to talk to him [Fowler] after his 5-goal demolition of Fulham, 1993):
"He's not coming out. He says he wouldn't know what to say."

Robbie Fowler (On how he celebrated the above feat, 1993) :
"After the Fulham game, I went round the chippy with my mates and got a big kiss from my mum when I got home!"

John Aldridge (On Orlando, Florida during the mega-hot World Cup, 1994) :
"It gets like this in Liverpool when you're on the ferry and the sun reflects off the Mersey."

Terry McDermott (On Newcastle midfielder Robert Lee, 1994) :
"He reminds me of Kenny Dalglish the way he sticks his backside into people."

Roy Evans (On why he didn't buy Chris Sutton, 1994) :
"If I'd agreed to pay a 21-year-old who hadn't played for England 12,000 pounds, I would have had 10 guys knocking on my door saying that they were full internationals and that they wanted the same money."

Doug Livermore (Then Spurs coach on Neil Ruddock, 1992) :
"I think he will go on to be a great player for us."

Ron Atkinson (On why he moved from the stand to the touchline during a game in which his Aston Villa side were playing Sheffield United, 1993) :
"I just wanted to give them some technical advice. I told them the game had started."

Dominik Diamond (Radio host and football columnist, 1994) :
"If football was meant to be an art, God wouldn't have invented Carlton Palmer."

Nick Hancock (Comedian, on the player's looks, 1994) :
"Barry Venison should be made to play in a motorcycle helmet."

Bill Shankly :
"Football is a simple game based on the giving and taking of passes, of controlling the ball and of making yourself available to receive a pass. It is terribly simple."

Ron Saunders :
"My team won't freeze in the white-hot atmosphere of Anfield."

Ron Jones (Radio 5) :
"Ian Rush is as quick as a needle."

Trevor Brooking :
"Merseyside derbies usually last 90 minutes and I'm sure today's won't be any different."

Ron Atkinson :
"I never comment on referees and I'm not going to break the habit of a lifetime for that prat."

Brian Moore :
"Rosenborg have won 66 games, and they've scored in all of them."

Barry Davies :
"Poland nil, England nil, though England are now looking the better value for their nil."

Elton Welsby :
"And now for the goals at Carrow Road where it ended nil - nil."

John Helm :
"Viv Anderson has pissed a fatness test."

Norman Whiteside :
"The only thing I have in common with George Best is that we come from the same place ... play for the same club ... and were discovered by the same man."

Kevin Keegan :
"They compare Steve McManaman to Steve Heighway and he's nothing like him, but I can see why - it's because he's a bit different."

Elton Welsby :
"Football today would certainly not be the same if it had not existed."

Stuart Pearce :
"I can see the carrot at the end of the tunnel."

John Sillett :
"Venison and Butcher - they're both as brave as two peas in a pod."

A somewhat cynical Jan Aage Fjortoft :
"Juninho will only need to learn three words of English : Pound, Thank You and Bye Bye."

The New York Post :
"John Harkes going to Sheffield, Wednesday."

David Coleman :
"Don't tell those coming in the result of that fantastic match, but let's have another look at Italy's winning goal."

A very perceptive Kevin Keegan :
"I don't think there is anyone bigger or smaller than Maradona."

Pat Rice, Arsenal assistant manager, confirming what the rest of the footballing world thinks about his team, speaking on Radio 5 Live :
"It seems our defence have been around for donkey's years."

Kevin Keegan's view of Faustino Asprilla's first game for Newcastle :
"By the end he was knackered-o. I think that's the Spanish for it."

Alan Brazil, on Radio 5 Live :
"The tackles are coming in thick and thin."

Ron Atkinson lauds Gordon Strachan, 39 :
"There's nobody fitter at his age, except maybe Raquel Welch."

Alex Ferguson, Manchester United manager :
"You know Dennis Wise. He could start a fight in an empty house."

John Motson, BBC1 Commentator, During Euro '96 :
"I was about to say, before something far more interesting interrupted ..."

Wendy Toms, the first female referee to officiate in a professional game in England :
"If the players want to make it hard for me, I am happy to make it twice as hard for them."

Javier Clemente, Spanish Coach, on Scotland's 1996 Under-21 side :
This is an unusual Scotland side because they have good players."

Ian Wright, Arsenal striker, on Tony Adams' confession to alcoholism :
"It took a lot of bottle for Tony to own up."

Dave Jones (after So'ton's 4-1 defeat of Barnsley)
(Talking about Carlton Palmer)
"We reckon Carlton covers every blade of grass - but then you have to if your first touch is that crap."