Top 60 Chris Coleman Quotes

I’ve got a strong relationship with Kit Symons.

Since I was five or six years old, I just wanted to be a professional football player. I wanted to play against the best players. I wanted to play in big stadiums in front of big crowds, and I was desperate to play for my country one day, and thankfully, I was lucky enough that happened.

I think, from our point of view, my opinion is that La Liga, the tempo and physicality is completely different to the Premier League. Technically, some of the teams there are absolutely tip top.

I’ve watched parents sometimes on the touchlines at youth games, and they are screaming and shouting, which is not the way to go.

The dressing room is not the place where you show emotion.

I’m really happy for Sam Vokes. He doesn’t always start, but he always turns up and works so hard.

For me, the training has to be a mixture of hard work – it has to have a good structure, a good base – but also, I don’t want all my players to be like machines.

I’ve got the opportunity to manage a big football club, a seriously big football club, and I wasn’t going to turn that down.

When I was at Swansea, I lost Alan Davies, who was only 30.

I have played international football myself.

Because football is an emotional game, it’s full of feeling, and that’s why we try to train with a smile on our face. At the same time, we work very hard, but it’s a fine line, and you’ve got to try and get that balance right if you can.

I never played in a World Cup. I wasn’t good enough.

Of course training is very important, but resting is just as important. You have to get your recuperation, and I think all players make that mistake where they train hard but they don’t rest enough, and even our school boy players, we tell them to get a lot of rest.

There’s not many Premier League clubs as big as Sunderland, with their fanbase and stadium and facilities.

It’s not so nice when you don’t feel wanted.

It’s not just about talent. It’s about having players with good mentality.

At international level, I’ve only ever wanted Wales.

I don’t like talking past the next game. It’s never served me right in the past.

I have been relegated as a player, and I have suffered the feeling of failure. It is awful, and when you are part of an international outfit that gets so close, and you don’t do it, it is not a good feeling. I don’t want that again. I want to be part of a team that does something no one else has done.

Ability-wise, when you see the best of Aaron Ramsey… at his best, is he good enough for Barcelona? Yes he is, at his best.

Northern Ireland, England, Scotland – when we play each other, you don’t want to lose to a neighbouring country.

It’s nice to be in an environment where you feel wanted.

With success comes complacency if you let it happen. It is human nature; there is that urge to think about how well you have done.

I think, a lot of guys who want to be professional football players, they see the Premiership players, and they see the finished article, but there’s a lot of hard work that’s gone into their careers for them to get there. There’s a lot of sacrifice, and I think people tend to forget that.

When you are being bullied a long way from home, when you face that challenge, that is where you find out a lot about yourself.

Robbie James, who was a real good friend of mine, died on the pitch at 40.

I know Roy Hodgson very well; he rarely changes tactically.

Any success I have had has not happened overnight; the journey has never felt like me sitting in the back of a limousine sipping champagne. It has always been more like riding up a hill on a pushbike, and the chain has come off.

I thought the first Welsh team I played in was the golden generation, with Neville Southall, Mark Hughes, Ian Rush, Dean Saunders, Gary Speed, and Ryan Giggs.

For Ashley Williams, he doesn’t score many, but what a leader.

I don’t actually think about going down in history.

My next job after Wales, whenever that is, will be somewhere abroad.

I have a lot of time and respect for Roy Hodgson; he’s a very good manager.

I won’t tolerate players not giving everything they’ve got.

Every job I’ve taken, I like to bring in some new faces.

When you talk about professional footballers, rightly or wrongly, people often already have an idea in their head about what they’re like; they’ll paint a picture before they’ve met them.

There are a lot of good managers out of work because there are only so many jobs out there, and if you get it wrong two jobs running, it’s hard to get a third one. That’s generally the rule.

That’s not always a nice feeling when you’ve given everything, and it’s not enough – it’s an empty feeling.

Working abroad made me better.

When a special moment happens, I really enjoy it, but I’m over it quite quickly. I remember it, yes, but I want to chase the next one.

Champions League football in the Premier League – you’re talking about the top, big, massive clubs, and it’s not something I think I’d get linked with.

As long as my guys are out there and doing what I’m asking, and they’re giving their best, I don’t think anybody can ask for much more than that.

You have to do a lot of planning, certainly in football. We watch the opposition three or four times before we play them.

I’ve been in football a long time and one thing you don’t do is when things are going well, you don’t get carried away. And when they don’t, you stay positive.

It’s difficult when you’re young and you’re not playing for your club.

I can remember when I was a 17-year-old at Swansea and Terry Yorath and Tommy Hutchison were in charge.

People talk about great motivators, but I think motivation has to come from within the individual first, because if you haven’t got that inner strength yourself, and belief and you want to do well, it doesn’t matter what anybody else says. You have to have that; it has to be inbuilt.

If you want to become a professional football player at any level, when you’re growing up, you have to make sacrifices, and it’s very difficult. It’s not easy, but you have to train hard, you have to live right, and you have to rest.

You can only ask someone of their best. That’s it. If you lose, and you’ve given your best, that’s how it goes.

Don’t be afraid to have dreams.

To manage another country? No, I wouldn’t. That’s not something I would consider.

I never played in a European Championship. I wasn’t good enough.

It doesn’t help me to burn bridges, but I’m not going to sit back and be given blame when I don’t deserve it.

I get the Swansea-Cardiff thing: I was a Swansea player; I loved playing against Cardiff. But when I played for Wales and played with Jason Perry or Nathan Blake, I never saw them as blue and white and me as black and white.

Football can change really quickly; you really are king for a day. Once you get caught up with things and think you’ve arrived… you’ve never arrived in football.

You can’t manufacture team spirit; it doesn’t come from having a good night out and a laugh.

I shared a dressing room with Alan Shearer. I used to watch the opposition looking at him, and they’d be thinking they need to score more than one because Shearer is going to score, and he scores every game. That psychological advantage is fantastic.

I’ve had more failures than I’ve had success, but I’m not afraid to fail.

Sometimes in football, the best team does not necessarily win; it’s the team that plays best on the day that prevails.

If you are a club manager and things are going well, it’s a great feeling because you’ve got the whole city behind you. If you’re manager of your country and it’s going well – and you’ve got a whole nation proud of you – I can’t describe how that feels.