Alan Lewis Quotes

I don't think it is wrong to have a bit of banter with refs. My Dad would always manage games by talking to players and so did I when I reffed.

Never charge a player and, above all, no pointing your finger or yelling.

I always hated to throw a guy out of a game but sometimes it was necessary to keep order.

Some players you pat their butts, some players you kick their butts, some players you leave alone.

Increasingly, it becomes evident that managing a ball club is a psychiatrist's job. In a short series, the mental attitude of the combatants is everything.

If one player can say that I, Emmanuel Adebayor, spoke badly to anyone in the changing rooms, then I'd honestly like to know who it is. It has never happened in my life.

I am not the type of player who makes problems for the team.

When you work, you know you can have some problem with the players. This is normal because the manager wants the players to work hard, play well, and the players should understand this.

I can't be a manager, because I think it's too tough managing 30 players thinking in different ways.

I was forced to learn a lot about psychology as a player, and as a captain to get the best out of others. There's still a lot of scepticism about it in sport and the workplace, but dealing with fluctuations of form, and pressure, and being away from home are more important than your cover-drive.

At the end of the day, guys don't want to foul, especially guys in the starting unit.

This was how Johan Cruyff worked. He was demanding a lot, but when you got there, and you were in his team, he was an incredible protector. He would push and push you, and then he would protect you. He was a master at handling players. He knew when you needed to be pushed or protected.

I know that there are coaches in the Bundesliga that have said in team meetings, 'Provoke Xhaka; he will eventually go ballistic.' I think that is sad. That, in my view, has nothing to do with football.

I think I have been able to slow down a little bit and really work on different things... I think I improved on being a leader on the court. Controlling the game, controlling the pace... that is where I have grown.

It's up to a manager to understand his players.

I try desperately to try and figure out how they'd react to different scenarios. That's part of what the DM's job is: to try and know their players well enough to where they can build encounters, challenges, and be like, 'I think they would do this in this scenario, so I will go ahead and prepare a few options based on this.'

It is important to challenge your major players. You need to keep them on their toes but there are ways of doing that. Sometimes you have to be a shoulder to cry on. You can't be constantly at them.

The more you play against teams and defenders, the more you get to know them. You know if they are more nervous; you know, on the pitch, people are different. I try to adapt to their character.

I'd be lying if I said I never had any issues with players but at some point you have to stamp your authority because if you're good at taking free-kicks, for example, they should let you take them.

But I still think it's part of the skill of being a coach or manager - to know who responds to what. And some players do respond to a rollicking. If it needs to be done, you have to do it. As a player, that wasn't necessarily me.

You have to take each player as a separate case and understand how to deal with them, which is not easy when you start in the job and are confronted with a player telling you he has a gambling or a drink problem.

Obviously, people in the media speak a lot when things aren't going right, but we as players do communicate with each other. Maybe it doesn't come across as being loud on the pitch - and you don't see it as much - but we do speak when things aren't going as well as planned.

In Italy, some managers want distance from the players, the Fabio Capello style, but that is not my way. I am more like Carlo Ancelotti. There are aspects of the players' behaviour I do not understand, but I want them to respect our situation. If they do that, I have a lot of respect for them, too, and I will do everything to help them.

You can't manage every footballer the same. Of course you'd love to, but it doesn't work like that. We're not robots.

Players' moods change on a daily basis, so it depends how you find your players, and up to you to get the best out of them.