J. B. Bickerstaff Quotes

My first thing with every club I have worked in is to get a personal relationship with the players and then build a professional one.

When I was coach at Ajax, in the first half of the season, the players needed time to adapt to me, to know who I am as a person and as a coach.

I tell you that the coaches are like cardiologists - they have to enter the player in their hearts so that the message reaches them.

The No. 1 job is to help a player reach their highest potential, and that's not possible without being able to relate with them. That's been helpful, and as far as my knowledge base is concerned, that stems from being around great coaches willing to share.

After a certain point I know my players so well, I can anticipate their reactions.

For me, the most important thing is running a good clubhouse. The X's and the O's - you sit up in the stands and, for the most part, a lot of fans go to the game and they know what's going to happen. You're going to hit and run, steal, put a pitcher in, take a pitcher out.

From our perspective, the most important thing is what you do with the players, how you handle them, your ability to communicate with them.

In fact, one of the conversations I had with Jason Garrett, you know, sometimes X's and O's get so complicated, and a coach gets so into that that he forgets the most important thing is players win ballgames. Make sure that the players are properly equipped and motivated to do their jobs.

It's very easy to say take a player, a world-class player out of the system of playing and just push him into a coaching role but coaching is a whole other thing. It's a skill.

I've been following some of the coaches, trying to get a little bit more experience, because coaching is very different from being a player.

I adapt my idea of football to my players, not adapt my players in my idea of football. It's important because there are others players that must play. The players are the most important things in football. I adapt my idea within my players.

Maradona doesn't play soccer anymore, he coaches it. He needs to remember that.

You get different philosophies in coaching, usually depending on what position the coach himself played.

From Rick Adelman to Kevin McHale, it was a big difference. Things are a lot stricter with McHale, and with Rick, things are a lot different, offensively, defensively. You go from being successful as hell with one coach and being comfortable with the coach to, yes, I was really successful with Kevin McHale, but I just didn't do it the right way.

I think it's very important to have contact with the players that I will coach.

Us coaches love to have as many players available as possible.

People often talk about a coach's philosophy, but generally, I think managers look at the players they have and then decide on their style.

I have always been the same player, but Conte knows how to treat players, having played at the highest level himself.

I have a lot of admiration for those who build tactical systems, but I always thought the most important thing a good coach must do is build the team around the characteristics of his players.

I learned a lot from Arsene Wenger, especially his tactical systems and how to plan things game to game, week to week and month to month.

I coached five clubs in South Africa and I was successful with them.

I'm happy with the confidence that Tite has shown me. He and his coaching staff have been doing a great job. My relationship with him is the best I can hope for and I always say that he cares about all the players equally, giving the same level of attention to first-team players and reserves.

I think, as a coach, you've got to do what your players can do.

I began training the young players at Nova Iguacu and at Boavista, and I enjoyed it. I had always wanted to be a coach, and this accelerated the process.

I've had a lot of great coaches. I think Guus Hiddink and Vicente del Bosque are the ones closest to my style. I'm more friendly with the players than a 'formal' coach. I'm not a professor. I'm Roberto Carlos and I want to win with my players and I want them to help me by doing their job well.