Soccer Players From England

"“What a player Paul is. Everything about him is just perfect.”"

"I love watching little Paul Scholes, he’s so in control of what he’s doing and is always so accurate and pinpoint with his passing – it’s just beautiful to watch."

"“He's not the quickest, he doesn't run the most, he never wins a header, he can't tackle but he's the best player”."

"I don't like compliments. No. I prefer criticisms; prefer to prove them wrong"

"When it's over I just want to be able to look in the mirror and say, 'Well, you were a half-decent player.'"

"”He is the phenomenon.”"

"He's unbelievable - he's one of the greatest of all time."

"Without any doubt the best player in the Premiership has to be Scholes. He knows how to do everything, and he is one who directs the way his team plays. On top of that, he has indestructible mental strength and he is a genuine competitor."

"Paul Scholes would have been one of my first choices for putting together a great team – that goes to show how highly I have always rated him. An all-round midfielder who possesses quality and character in abundance."

"My toughest opponent? Scholes of Manchester. He is the complete midfielder. Scholes is undoubtedly the greatest midfielder of his generation."

"No celebrity bullshit, no self promotion - an amazingly gifted player who remained an unaffected human being."

"One of the greatest football brains Manchester United has ever had."

"I have never started a fight in my life but I have finished a few... sometimes I shudder when I think about what I have done."

"Tommy Smith wasn't born, he was quarried."

"I don't think tackling is at all acceptable these days... there are a lot of cheats in the game, too."

"If he isn't named Footballer of the Year, football should be stopped and the men who picked any other player should be sent to the Kremlin."

"Don't go for the player, go for the ball."

"If Shankly was the Anfield foreman, Paisley was the brickie, ready to build an empire with his own hands.""

"If we played like that every week we wouldn't be so inconsistent."

"It's alright, I'm not going to steal your breakfast you fat prick."

"England did nothing in the World Cup, why are they bringing books out? 'We got beat in the quarter-finals, I played like shit, here's my book'. Who wants to read that? I don't."

"You have to face facts. We have not brought quality in. One or two have done all right but not enough to take the team onto the next level. We can't gamble on players who have scored six goals in six games in the fucking Pontins League or in Belgium. I know a lot of the supporters are umming and ahhing about whether to buy their season tickets. They go out and work hard. It is a lot of money to buy a season ticket at our place and they are not getting value for money."

"I was able to string a sentence together and debate issues that went beyond Nuts magazine — and, yes, also capable at the time of mindless acts of violence."

"I've felt under threat this week. I've felt like something is going to happen to me. And I don't say that for anyone to feel sorry for me – I say that for people to understand the reality and the impact that hate speech has, the impact that racism has, the impact that sexism has, the impact that misogyny has on all of us females in the game, in sports broadcasting."

"Little has been heard, to date, from writers once happy to overlook a whole anthology of Barton attacks, including his stubbing a cigar out in another player’s eye, attacks on and off the pitch, and a six-month prison sentence (another was suspended) for common assault and affray. His supporters may even think it proves Barton’s “wokeism” point that, while sustained, occasionally criminal violence barely dented his prospects, some abusive tweets about prominent women will now have ended any he might have had in mainstream sport or cultural appreciation."

"It is not just in England where his name is famous. All over the world he is regarded as a true football genius"

"I grew up in an era when he was a god to those of us who aspired to play the game. He was a true gentleman and we shall never see his like again"

"You're 32, do you think you can make it for another couple of years?"

"For me this man probably had the greatest name of any player ever, certainly in Britain. I don't think anyone since had a name so synonymous with football in England"

"I set myself high standards on the pitch and know I have not always lived up to them this season"

"Nobody wants to be associated with failing to qualify for the World Cup finals. I cannot imagine the shame of it."

"It hit me like a thunderbolt!"

"His temperament is always there to be questioned because he plays on the edge. That is just the way he plays.It is a cliche but if you took that edge away from Wayne he wouldn't be the same player and I would rather have the Wayne Rooney we have now."

"It was wicked meeting Nelson Mandela."

"Gary Neville is the club captain but has been injured for the best part of a year now - and Giggsy's taken on the mantlepiece."

"My name was out there in the public arena for people to make assumptions on why I missed a drugs test. That stigma is something that may never go away. I go out there and play for the fans and for my family and for myself and to have that taken away from me in such a way was disheartening and something that really did shock me. I'm man enough to admit that I did cry."

"I was disappointed it wasn't reported that I said Rio Ferdinand was the best defender in the world."

"If you come out with racist comments, then I believe you shouldn’t be allowed to come to a football match. Don’t be so narrow minded, you’re bigger than that."

"Football is the most important thing in my life, but I do have a life outside football and this is one part. The TV, the music, the fashion - it all goes to make up Rio Ferdinand."

"A lot of the reason I am here is because of my strength, my determination and character. I would just like to talk about a girl called Lucy.I went to her funeral today, she was 10 years old. She came to the game against Charlton where we lifted the Premiership trophy. She had a tumor on the brain - really she should have died the week before that game. But she was so desperate to come and see that game, to watch us play. The character and strength she showed made me put everything in perspective.I would like to dedicate this whole award to her, her family, especially her mother, and I would like to say thanks to everyone tonight."

"If you'd asked me seven or eight years ago I would have said I wasn't Frank Lampard's biggest fan. But his all-round game has improved massively. He's had to work at his game. I don't think he's been naturally the most gifted player in the world. From what I hear he's a good one to practise and he's improved to be one of the best midfielders in the world. Credit to him for that. He's more of an all-round package now than he was at West Ham when he was probably carrying too much weight, not that he was fat. His goals record is unbelievable, just like Steven Gerrard and Paul Scholes. We see a lot of players who come on the scene and just fade away. But he seems as hungry as ever and plays lots of games. He looks after his body. He's a fit lad and when you've got a midfielder who can put the ball in the back of the net it's bloody priceless. When you look at him and Gerrard, by God, Fabio Capello's a lucky man to have two such outstanding players. The hallmark of a top player is not to do it over two years but over eight or nine."

"What a player. What a man. What an absolute diamond of a footballer. The critics, the haters, they cannot touch Frank Lampard now. Not after last night. Not after that penalty. He won, they lost. He stood tall, they skulked in the background."

"Lamps is Lamps. When he plays well he is best in the game, when he plays bad, he is the second or the third best."

"I would not be the player I am today without him, I would not have improved without my dad. In the early years, he would have me over the park training when everyone else was at home or playing with their mates, I was jumping on the floor, getting up and running again, sprinting - I will never forget that. I thank him for everything he has done in my football life and for being a dad."

"This award is voted for by journalists, who can be your biggest critic and get on your nerves sometimes, but they all know football and I am very respectful of their thoughts, and very proud they have decided to give me this award this year."

"I was told I had to do a speech, to say a few thank yous and was lying in bed a couple of nights ago till about 2:30 in the morning thinking what I was going to say. I had it all planned out perfectly, fell asleep - and then was woken up at 4am when my cars were being driven off in the driveway!"

"I do play with minor knocks at times. I'm not saying I'm a Braveheart compared to others, but I do just get on with it. And I do a lot of extra work, not so much gym work, I won't go in and pump iron, but I do like to do as much as I can on the training pitch. I'll practise my finishing, my passing, my dribbling and my sprints. Maybe that all contributes to that bit of luck I have staying fit. It's something my old man (his father, Frank Sr, formerly of West Ham and England) has instilled in me since I was a kid. Now, if I don't do that bit extra, I don't go into a game feeling I've prepared right."

"Lampard's better than Gerrard and Scholes. No questions asked."

"We're like a bad tea-bag - we never stay in the Cup that long - reacting to his QPR side's defeat in the League Cup (then known as the Carling Cup for sponsorship reasons) to Aston Villa in September 2004."

"The kid makes you sick. He looks the part, he walks the part, he is the part. He's six-foot something, fit as a flea, good-looking - he's got to have something wrong with him....Hopefully he's hung like a hamster! That would make us all feel better!"