Top 33 Jermaine Jenas Quotes

Of course, stuff happens off the ball in any football match. Standing on people’s toes, pinching, hair pulling, punching in the back.

As it is, I played 99 per cent of my football in the Premier League and I’d proud of that fact. That’s where my history is.

When a new manager comes in you are naturally wary and it does cross your mind that you might not figure in his plans.

When I talk to my mates, they all have their opinion and though I’m a professional who’s played the game and lived it they still don’t agree with me. Every fan thinks they knows best, every fan is passionate about their club and their team and their points are valid because they watch them all the time.

When you get married and have your own family, it gives you the opportunity to look back on your own childhood I suppose, but you learn on the job really.

I miss the build-up to the games, the jolt of nervous energy that goes through your body before a match, walking out on to a pitch and the knowledge that a whole city can be caught up in supporting a club you play for.

People sometimes ask me what my biggest regret is in football and it’s not being able to have that ‘Steven Gerrard’ moment where he’s playing for the team that he loves in terms of where he’s from.

Around the time Andre Villas-Boas became manager I went to a summer training camp in America. But when I got back, to my horror, I found that all my kit had been moved into the reserve team changing room. I was told I wasn’t allowed in the first team dressing room anymore.

We are obsessed in England with the idea that we’re not good enough at retaining the ball, and that our players treat it like a hot potato.

When Pep Guardiola accepted the Manchester City job, he would have asked himself one question about the club’s current squad: is this a team that can win me the Champions League?

No player has a right to be in the team, but the minimum you expect is basic respect.

I’ve never been a selfish player. I’ve never been able to just say I am going as well. I’ve always thought about the team first.

In life it is easier to criticise people than be out there doing it yourself.

I had a couple of moments struggling with imposter syndrome throughout my career as a player.

There’s precious little incentive to try and make it in the world of management – and that’s especially true in England.

You almost need a psychology degree to be a manager these days. Even with Fabio Capello – who may not have done too well with England – you could tell why he had been so successful in the past. He had real authority.

You don’t need to be fast if you’re clever in your positioning, and that’s exactly what Mark Noble is.

I’m not saying coaching has never crossed my mind. But it’s worth pointing out that if I decided tomorrow that I wanted to be a manager and I started getting my badges through the FA, it would take me four and a half years to complete my training.

A lot of the best managers in the game were forced into it by financial necessity. From Sir Alex Ferguson to Jurgen Klopp, their main incentive to move into coaching after their playing careers was to make a living.

I’m only 24, which is still young, but I don’t think of myself as one of the young lads anymore. I suppose that’s how people have always seen me. But there comes a time when you have to take extra responsibility.

I used to find most joy with those long, bursting runs from your own box where the opposition’s central midfield player has to track you. It gives them a decision to make: do they pass you on to a defender, or do they go all the way with you.

I’ve got to admit when I did my first ever Match Of The Day, I didn’t realise how nervous I’d be. There’s a real adrenaline rush as you know you’re being watched by around eight million people who’ll take the mick out of any mistake you make.

I’m a big fan of Steve McClaren. I worked with him over several years during my career and I can say with total confidence that he is an outstanding football talent, as well as being a top guy.

Tottenham’s number one derby will always be Arsenal.

Professional footballers get up, train, play games, and that’s it. They don’t worry if the club gets fined. They don’t investigate the intricacies of the business.

Speaking as a midfield player myself, I know it’s easier to make your runs into the box from that deeper, more central position. You can gauge where the ball is going to land and how best to time your run.

I can remember visiting one school in Nottingham – where there were about 10 pupils on the brink of exclusion. They had about a term-and-a-half to go and I said to them that – if they didn’t miss another day – I’d get them football tickets at the end of their studies.

We were from a predominantly white area, my dad was black and my mum was white, so that had its complications.

As a player, you have a certain relationship with a coach or a number two, and it’s a completely different to the one you have with the manager.

I’ve always had an appreciation of my life and the lifestyle me and my family have become accustomed to. It’s more to do with the little things.

I remember when I left Newcastle to join Tottenham Hotspur, the money was in no way a motivation for me, it was all about becoming a better player.

A lot of the time at Spurs, I was fitting in around other people, letting the likes of Luka Modric go and do what they wanted to so I had to be the disciplined one.

As a young player all you want to do is develop.