Quotes from Sam Allardyce

I coach defending an awful lot but I don't think too many teams in the Premier League or in the world of football actually coach defending anymore, certainly not the full-backs.

The England team shouldn't be picked on whichever players are in the Premier League when you've got a Premier League player playing in the Championship.

We've got the greatest Premier League, greatest domestic competition in the world but the downside of that is we've got fewer and fewer English players playing in that league.

My main aim is to finish as high up the top of the Premier League as possible. I have the ability to help teams survive.

My model is much deeper than looking after players. My model is understanding the industry, working within it.

What is entertainment? Entertainment is the master of defence in Europe - Simeone.

The bonding of the team is exceptionally important and trying to create a good team spirit and to have some fun.

I'm hardened over many years. You toughen yourself for whatever job. You either take the good with the bad or don't bother.

Busquets has been a great player for Spain and Barcelona, don't get me wrong. He's a very effective player and is the first pick for every manager because he plays such a simple game. But we laud him as a genius, whereas our own we don't, we criticise.

Busquets is a sitting midfield player who breaks up play, intercepts, passes it very quickly and is intelligent. That's what he is. He's not much more than that, but he gets a lot of praise for it. Whereas Eric Dier does a similar job, but sometimes gets loads of criticism for it.

There are scientists who will tell you that spirit, because it can't be measured, doesn't exist. Bollocks. It does exist.

Finishing in the top four for Liverpool, Arsenal, Chelsea and Man United was easier before, but now it's getting much more difficult with the emergence of teams like Manchester City.

I believe first of all it's always a disappointment to lose the players at an important moment of the season.

Whoever you are playing and whatever you are playing against you have to weigh up tactically how you approach that game. That has always been a part of my make-up, having made my way through every division and finding out what management is all about.

Defending is an art, everybody has forgotten it.

Everybody thinks they can do my job better than me, they always feel you've got to throw caution to the wind and that's the way supporters are.

For the record, I've never taken a bung in my life. I might have enjoyed a meal or a bottle of wine on an agent or two but that is it. I was earning £1.5m a year, so I didn't need a little bit extra from an agent. It would have been madness.

Expectation builds the one thing you must have when you get to a new stadium when it's built, which is a winning team.

The problem for me is we are denying British coaches positions in all divisions now, particularly in the top division and the Championship. We need to do something about that. As a country, as the FA, as the Premier League, we need to protect the position of our own highly qualified coaches who are not even getting an interview now.

I have a great amount of enthusiasm, and I am a man who knows how to do this job inside out because of the experience I've gained over the years.

It's always a good time to play against a team when they come back from Europe, whether it's the Europa League or Champions League.

As much as I liked Wolves as a boy and it was a childhood dream to play and perhaps manage for the club, I've come to Bolton and this is where I want to stay.

We live in a world that builds people's expectations so high, so when the downside comes there is a knee-jerk reaction.

When will the first manager manage at a professional level having learned his trade on 'FIFA 16,' '17,' or '18?' I've watched my grandson on it, I've watched him buy players and sell them to get to the top of the league and it's teaching him how to manage. The knowledge base that they build up would be very interesting down the line.