Andrew Strauss Quotes

Managing can be more discouraging than playing, especially when you're losing because when you're a player, there are at least individual goals you can shoot for. When you're a manager all the worries of the team become your worries.

It is one thing being scrutinised for playing a bad shot as a batsman or bowling a bad spell as a bowler, but the captaincy adds an extra dimension. The criticism is slightly harder to take.

Since my international debut in 2014 the miles on the clock have probably crept up and Test cricket is the level where the pressure and scrutiny are greatest.

There's not much simplifying. You gotta know what you gotta know. That's how the quarterback position is, and I wouldn't have it any other way.

To say that the captain makes the team lose or win is not correct.

Anytime you're playing with a team that's losing, the main guy is going to take a lot of the heat.

It's not an issue for me if I captain England in 42 Tests or in 50. It's a question of what is best for the team in Test and one-day cricket.

It's the life of the manager: when you make a decision, and the team doesn't win, the pressure comes. But that's part of the life of a manager and footballers as well.

Everyone knows quarterback is a position where it takes a while to really start playing well.

The number 10 player is the star of the team, and you have more responsibility.

When you're a point guard, man, if you're not up to par, you're in a lot of trouble.

When you come from younger teams, and you reach the main squad, there are always difficulties you have to deal with, like the intensity, the maturity, and the experience of the players.

All managers are under pressure. It's our life, always. It's about how we manage the pressure, the victory, we have to manage everything, even me - the bookmakers put me under pressure every time!

There's always going to be pressure on your place. It's 11 cricketers. There's always going to be other cricketers outside the team doing well.

It's hard to be a leader right away, but playing quarterback, you have to.

I was elected on April 13 and sworn in two days later, so I had no orientation. I had to figure things out as I went along.

It's hard to be the point guard, especially playing with a young team.

Pressure, responsibility - I'm used to playing in big clubs.

Whether you play or whether you're on the bench, or however it may be, at some point in your career you will be one of those three roles. You will either be a young, up-and-coming goalkeeper watching the experienced one, you'll either be on the bench or you'll be in goal yourself.

I think a lot of the time, when things were going wrong, I would get blamed for things because I was the point guard.

Chris Paul, president of the NBA Players Association, can lead an entire league but can't lead his team when it really counts.

I always say that mentality is a crucial aspect in a football environment.

You can't ring up another manager and say, 'Who do you think I should pick this week?' But you take the good and bad from people as you go along.

Playing quarterback is hard enough.

A lot of these teams really forget that part of success comes with having veteran leadership. You see a lot of teams forget that and start letting go of these old veterans. They don't realize how important it is to have a veteran voice in your locker room or on the bench. It's important to have guys who have been there before.