A good season for me is going to the playoffs and making a run for the Super Bowl and having a good record.

I just want to whup the man in front of me, play after play.

I was a basketball player. And my mother even wanted me to quit because I hurt my leg. But I didn't know anything about football - from Pee-Wee on up, my friends would play, and I would never go with them.

Did I ever get booed? I don't think I ever got booed.

Talk is cheap; play the game.

Every year you've got somebody coming in and trying to kick you off, so you have to prove yourself. Even for the coaches, too. Their jobs are always on the line.

If you can make it here, you can make it anywhere. That's why I play. If I made it in New York, you can make it anywhere.

I've been through worst, seen worst.

It is embarrassing that a player would give up his career and the chance to compete for the biggest prizes in the game just for money.

It is a sad day for football when a player about to enter his prime moves for financial reasons and nothing else.

Coaching for tackles? That's something you do with seven-year-olds, when you show them how to stand and when to make a block. It is one of the basics of the game. No Premier League manager needs to coach it.

Many in top positions around Europe have devoted their lives to coaching.

My family regarded the end of my career as a sign they could really enjoy life a bit rather than cancelling plans on the back of a poor result - it happened many times!

A chance to manage at the highest level? What could be better?

There are times when I watch Jurgen Klopp leaping around after Liverpool have scored and I think to myself: 'I wish that was me.'

Rafa Benitez - man with huge experience who knew how the club operated - could not get the results Real wanted and couldn't walk away from the fights that erupted in the dressing room and the boardroom.

Real Madrid is such an extraordinary club in terms of size and the constant politics that, perhaps, the best results are achieved by those with an ability to remove themselves from the spotlight to concentrate on their work.

Del Bosque was axed by Madrid for failing to retain the Champions League in 2003 but his sacking triggered the start of a spell when they won nothing for four years and failed to get beyond the Champions League's last 16.

Why does it get assumed that Zidane is a figurehead and everything Real achieve is down to the talent of the squad?

We sometimes undervalue the importance of goalkeepers.

There is so much I admire about Buffon. His longevity is remarkable, his loyalty to Juventus impeccable.

Buffon has been a star from the moment he began his senior career with Parma.

I was born on January 28, 1978, the same day as Buffon.

My wife never went to many Liverpool games but if she was out on a Saturday, she would always ask someone for the score. If we had won, she'd simply be relieved that I would be coming home in a good mood.