Our country has been through some difficult moments recently in terms of its unity. But sport can unite.

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Nobody can tell me that if players are good enough, they will come through. That is not true. There are plenty of players who are good enough.

The quality of our academy system is very high, as good as anything in the world. Around the country, lots of people in youth development are keen to get together and find a solution to that 17-to-21 age bracket and how we get those players playing.

I think we have seen evidence that being brave enough to go abroad can lead to a proper opportunity.

When the positions of so many managers is precarious, and there isn't long-term stability, I can understand why they are loath to risk.

My job is to allow people to dream. Make the impossible seem possible.

Whenever you're in an England shirt, you have an opportunity to make history.

My players' feeling is the most important thing for me.

My priority is, do my players feel supported from within their dressing room by their own federation?

You give everything you have, build friendships within your team - in international football, you give everything for your country and play in a way that you hope connects with the fans.

You expect the players to fight for their club and fight for their shirt, and when they come together, they are fighting for England.

In every position on the field, there's really strong competition.

I don't know how you get in the England squad without getting in the Arsenal team.

I don't think the qualifying fixtures excite people. They're games against countries that we are expected to beat, rightly so, and then how many we score dictates whether it's a good performance or not.

It's very difficult to pick a 17-year-old who's had 10 minutes of first-team football. You're talking about replacing senior players with some 17-year-olds who haven't played Premier League football.

If we are encouraging kids to go into academies, then presumably we are selling them the dream that they can play first-team football.

I am not sure I will ever wear a waistcoat again, frankly!

Whenever people speak, you give the opposition the opportunity to use those words as they see fit.

You always have to be conscious of how your words can provide motivation to the opposition.

You can never say you've 'made it,' because that's the day you stop progressing and improving.

I'm committed to England, simple as that. I don't need to hedge my bets in keeping doors open or keeping things alive.

My sole focus is producing the best team possible for England.

I manage every player as well as I possibly can, regardless of which club they're from, what their roots are.

I want my players to enjoy playing football and not be scarred by the experiences.

When you're a leader and a manager, you have to make decisions which are right for your group to achieve the primary objective. Sometimes those decisions will be criticised.

I think it's always difficult to go against people with big match experience in finals.

Looking at the team sheets, you're never quite sure one weekend to the next who's going to be in a team and who isn't.

For me, it is all about the bigger picture and what is right for England. I haven't enjoyed watching us play in all our games, but away in Germany, against Spain and Germany at home, I've enjoyed the performance.

Very often, you can go into one game and do really well, and then you have to find that level of performance so quickly again.

If we want to be a top team, we can't get to 3-0 and suddenly decide not to play without the ball. We have to play with intelligence right through the game.

We want to win every game of football we go into. I don't know how we would go into a game not wanting to win and not wanting to play well.

I've got to think through all of those things - competition for places, players who need match minutes, and keeping the unity of the squad.

I don't think, when you are involved with England, you can ever write any game or tournament off - that wouldn't be acceptable.

I expect all the players, even the younger ones, to show leadership in their own way.

You're always loath to take a player off of his ability.

My brain acts bizarrely and I keep having major mood swings.

This journey of education and breaking stigma around HIV is something that will have a legacy everlasting.

Everything I do, I do it being myself.

Wherever I am in my life, it's because rugby has enabled me to do that.

I was able to come out as gay publicly because my family had accepted me. They thought nothing of it, and without them I wouldn't have been able to do it. If I didn't have them in my life I would have felt like I had no one.

My father always pretends to hate Christmas. But when we were children he was the first one waking us up, saying: 'Do you think Father Christmas has been yet?'

My sport was my comfort. The routine, the camaraderie, the team... everyone's around you. After rugby you're on your own.

If you add children to a marriage, they bring a different dimension to the relationship. If I'd had a child and I believed it would have made my child's life better by not coming out, the chances are I wouldn't have done it. Because I think you do whatever it takes to make your child happy.

Part of a sportsman's job is taking banter from the crowd.

I'm not going on a crusade but I'm proud of who I am. I feel I have achieved everything I could ever possibly have hoped to achieve out of rugby and I did it being gay. I want to send a positive message to other gay people that they can do it, too.

You cannot afford to take any risks where your health is concerned.

I knew I was gay at 18, but to come out then would have meant I would not have achieved what I did in rugby. I loved rugby so much and it was so important to me that I made the decision to keep my sexuality secret. People may disagree with that, but it was my belief and my decision.

There are times in my life when I've wanted never to exist. There's times you don't want to go back to.

Toulouse opened my eyes as a player and as a person. I returned to Wales 10 times better for the experience. I admit that when I went there I was not life-savvy: I was a wild child who lived life instinctively. I would walk past a building and not even notice it.