Quotes from Jermaine Jenas

I'm not a robot: sometimes I wake up and I want to train, but I don't manage it.

I can remember visiting one school in Nottingham - where there were about 10 pupils on the brink of exclusion. They had about a term-and-a-half to go and I said to them that - if they didn't miss another day - I'd get them football tickets at the end of their studies.

I've never been a selfish player. I've never been able to just say I am going as well. I've always thought about the team first.

It's not that players feel no emotional bond to a team. When you've given so much of your career to a club, you can't help but feel affection towards them.

To go to Milan and play against the European champions at the San Siro is phenomenal.

When a new manager comes in you are naturally wary and it does cross your mind that you might not figure in his plans.

I miss the build-up to the games, the jolt of nervous energy that goes through your body before a match, walking out on to a pitch and the knowledge that a whole city can be caught up in supporting a club you play for.

It doesn't really matter how much you've got saved up in your bank account. If someone offers you £10 million to play football for a year in a beautiful part of the world, who would turn that down?

I'm not saying coaching has never crossed my mind. But it's worth pointing out that if I decided tomorrow that I wanted to be a manager and I started getting my badges through the FA, it would take me four and a half years to complete my training.

We were from a predominantly white area, my dad was black and my mum was white, so that had its complications.

When you're out there together on the pitch, you're fighting for each other. It's amazing, overwhelming and you either sink or swim in that atmosphere. It's what makes professional footballers what they are. You can't replicate that in any other job.

I had a couple of moments struggling with imposter syndrome throughout my career as a player.

You don't need to be fast if you're clever in your positioning, and that's exactly what Mark Noble is.

We are obsessed in England with the idea that we're not good enough at retaining the ball, and that our players treat it like a hot potato.

In life it is easier to criticise people than be out there doing it yourself.

In the weirdest way possible, I would rather be losing games but seeing a performance that suggests it is going to come good.

There's precious little incentive to try and make it in the world of management - and that's especially true in England.

As it is, I played 99 per cent of my football in the Premier League and I'd proud of that fact. That's where my history is.

Tottenham's number one derby will always be Arsenal.

I've never looked at my job as pressure. It's always been fun, a privilege.

Aleksandar Kolarov has technical ability, but I'm not sure he has what it takes defensively.

You almost need a psychology degree to be a manager these days. Even with Fabio Capello - who may not have done too well with England - you could tell why he had been so successful in the past. He had real authority.

My dad's a football coach, that's what he does.

I wasn't the kind of player to make a fuss.