Quotes About Football

Ajax has always been about homegrown players developed in a small country.

I guess more than anything, Green Bay just felt like home. You know, small town, good people who love their football... it was a really great experience being a part of that culture.

The Champions League was something very distant for us. I grew up in a very small town with 50,000 inhabitants, and it was a way of being able to watch my idols or people I admired play football on television.

Coming from a small town in New Mexico - Lovington, New Mexico - I was very happy to go to college for free and get a scholarship to play college football.

When I was smaller, I always looked up to Zidane, Messi, Ronaldinho, Ronaldo.

It is very tough in England. Every away game is hard, of course. And normally, if you're a big club like Chelsea, you're supposed to win games at home against smaller clubs. But in England, that's not the case. We must play well every game.

If you look at the difference games between the bigger and smaller teams, the difference in concentration, and being passive is big; that is my opinion.

Peter Schmeichel could make the goal look much smaller when you glanced up to hit a shot.

It was always my intention to go with a smaller club. I reckoned I'd get more of a chance.

I've always been one of the smallest, if not the smallest guy on the football field.

When you are stronger, it helps. But ever since I have played football, I have been one of the smallest ones, and you have to try to compensate with other things because if you are faster or stronger, it helps you.

I would never bet against Peyton Manning. You know about the age and the neck and the strength. But I had George Blanda, and as he got older, he got smarter, and he just got rid of the ball quicker. I watch Peyton, and I see George Blanda.

Favre is smarter than the coaches. Most of those coaches have never played pro football, and they're second-guessing him?

I wasn't the smartest in school - I was always sort of middle of the class - but when it came to football, I was always driven to be a success there.

When Pep played this incredibly attractive and multifaceted football in Barcelona, a lot was written and said about Barca's playing with the ball. But the real madness was counter-pressing. Most opponents never had the ball for longer than five seconds before they got smashed by this machine.

Because football is an emotional game, it's full of feeling, and that's why we try to train with a smile on our face. At the same time, we work very hard, but it's a fine line, and you've got to try and get that balance right if you can.

Football has to work really hard to put a smile on people's face and not to be so focused on the question of money. Everything is in danger of losing its soul if you're always going to sell out to the highest bidder.

When I play all the time, I play with a smile on my face, and then I can help my team with my goals and my game and the way I can play football.

People wonder why I smile a lot. It is because I am doing what I love best: to play football for people who love me. It makes me happy.

I have to smile because we, as footballers, are really lucky to do the job we do. But this is not just a job for me. It's my passion.

I like to smile. I try to bring happiness on and off the pitch. I don't understand how you can play football without joy.

Some people actually pay bills with their win bonuses. If you don't win, there isn't anyone in the dressing-room smiling or joking or saying, 'Oh, there's always the next game.' In those lower divisions, losing actually hurts people and affects lives.

I could sit here and tell you about Walter Smith until the cows come home, about how good a manager, how good a coach and a football man he was.

Some of my best childhood memories are of watching Terrell Davis with my dad. I used to hang out when I was, like, 4 and 5 years old and play Power Rangers in the locker room with him and Shannon Sharpe and Rod Smith. And I loved Terrell. He was awesome.