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.

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

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

I've got a strong relationship with Kit Symons.

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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.

I'm never content, and I don't know if that's a curse or a good thing.

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.

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

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

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

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.

Working abroad made me better.

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

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.

It's naive of anyone to think there is no corruption in football because it's everywhere.

I've never taken a bung, and I've never been approached to take one.

I have played international football myself.

If you ask any manager after a defeat, you want to be as far away from it as you can.

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.

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

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

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.

When you're playing for Real Madrid, even when you're playing well, you're under scrutiny.

When I was playing, I always preferred to be meeting a side like the Faroe Isles or San Marino early doors. Do things right in those games, and you knew you would get six points on the board, at least be up and running and challenging in the group.

When you are in an international camp, you are together for 10 days. You eat three times a day together. You spend a lot of time in each other's company. That 10 days is very important ,and I think even times for training, times when you eat, meetings, this that and the other, a lot has got to change in that camp.

My dad was Dublin born and bred - a Dublin boy - but he always pushed me to play for what was Wales Under-15s in my day.

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.

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.

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.

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.

I think average players are able to play well now and again, or they'll play very, very well. Good players or great players, nine times out of ten, they have good games.

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.

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.

Every time I manage Wales and you win, the feeling is better than I've ever had as a club manager.

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.

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.