sport

The Quotes Of The Week

The best of the verbals over the past seven days...

* "A cataclysmic cock-up" - Gary Megson's view of Rob Styles' unfathomable penalty award for Manchester United against his Bolton side.

* "Rob turned down four or five for us last year so maybe we got payback today but he still owes us four" - Sir Alex Ferguson's alternative outlook.

* "Quite a few hearts sank when the players heard he [Styles] was refereeing our game. Apparently he has quite a bit of history with Bolton, too. I don't know what that history is because I haven't been here long enough, but I do know it went down like the Bismarck" - Megson.

* "I can't think of any other team in the world who ask you to play against the likes of Dimitar Berbatov, Wayne Rooney, Cristiano Ronaldo and Carlos Tevez, yet we were doing okay and had had the best chance of the game. But unfortunately to that four you had to add Rob Styles" - The final word from the Bolton boss.

* "I think they will be disappointed" - The rather honest response/admission of Joe Kinnear when asked how he thought the Newcastle fans would react to his appointment as the club's interim manager.

* "He's the one who's got Newcastle out of the s**t" - Kinnear's eulogy of Mike Ashley. Unfortunately expletives can't be deleted in a live interview on Football Focus. Presenter Manish Bhasin duly interrupted to make an immediate apology.

* "I'm no mug. I know I'm going to get crucified and everything else, but I'll take it on the chin. There's always someone who wants to stab you in the back but bollocks to that, I'll stand up for myself. I've only been here five minutes and I'm branded a cockney. How am I a cockney? I was born and reared in Ireland" - There were also a few expletives in this rant by Kinnear as well.

* "I can't see any danger of Newcastle going down. None whatsoever" - After making a promising start, the 61-year-old then goes and ruins all his good work.

* "Jeremiah" - Kinnear struggles to identify Geremi.

* "I went looking for him but he ran away pretty quick" - Roy Keane reveals how he dealt with a terrace dissenter last season.

* "You think about the game and, if you can watch it, you watch it again. But there were certainly enough ingredients in the game to make me physically sick again" - Arsene Wenger doesn't take defeat against Hull well.

* "I don't think he even shaves" - Wenger considers the growth (or otherwise) of 16-year-old Jack Wilshere, a scorer during the Arsenal kids' rout of Sheffield United.

* "What I regret is when you leave a sheet in a five-star hotel you find it in a newspaper the next day. That means you cannot trust anybody. Someone finds a sheet that has 'confidential' written on it they give it to the newspapers. People wouldn't rather give it back to the team or throw it away. You cannot accept this type of behaviour because if you leave £20 in your room you will not find it again as well. It's the same" - Wenger's angry response to the leaking of Arsenal's pre-Bolton match pep-talk. Expect a change in reservation for their next trip to the north-west.

* "He can be on the 31st of December, he can be on the 10th of November, nobody knows with him. In the next two months he should be back but what date, nobody knows" - The Arsenal manager confirms that the club's medical team don't have a clue what is going on with Tomas Rosicky.

* "I didn't go down like he does" - Mark Hughes has a bitch after Wigan striker Zaki was compared to his younger self.

* "I studied Italian five hours a day for many months to be able to communicate with you journalists and you think that I lacked respect. Who is Ranieri to speak? After five years in England he had trouble saying good morning and good afternoon" - Jose Mourinho's scathing response after Claudio Ranieri, his predecessor as Chelsea manager, criticised him for skipping a midweek press conference.

* "We lost 1-0 but I feel 1-1 was the right result, but this was down to pragmatism. It's better to lose a game than to be afraid of playing football. We played. Milan have a lot of experience and they know how to control the tempo, commit a tactical foul or pretend to have an injury to slow down the pace" - Would you believe that these are the words of the arch-pragmatist Mourinho? Funny how suffering defeat changes perspective...

* "I am not ashamed to proclaim my political beliefs. I share the ideals of fascism, such as the fatherland and the values of the Catholic religion" - AC Milan goalkeeper Christian Abbiati.

* "If I have to get people out of their comfort zones, then I am quite happy to do that. I have done it before. I have done it and it has cost me a lot in my career, and it probably will in the future. I look back and a lot of my troubles in my career have not been what I have done, but what I have said. I upset people, but a lot of people upset me. I never talk about that, though" - Roy Keane.

* "You don't know what you are doing" - The Tottenham fans heckle Juande Ramos at Fratton Park.

* "I'm really happy but disappointed because it would have been better winning against Stoke" - Even after an away victory in the Merseyside derby, Rafa Benitez still isn't happy.

* "There is an exaggerated perception of how well Liverpool and Everton fans used to get on 20 years ago but, equally, I have noticed a much meaner atmosphere at more recent derbies. As someone who has been a Blue and a Red, I feel qualified to say where it all went wrong and I feel the responsibility lies mainly with the way Everton fans reacted to their barren spell" - Jamie Carragher's thoughts on Mersey relations, leaked from his autobiography ahead of this weekend's game at Goodison Park.

* "When Rafa called them a small club, after they came to Anfield for a draw, how did they react? They put a statement on their official website, having a go back. How small-time can you get? It was embarrassing" - As a boy, Carragher was a devoted Everton fan.

* "2-0 to the murderers" - The response of the Liverpool fans to a) Saturday's scoreline and b) the barracking they received at Goodison Park.

* "The Premier League is the best championship in the world right now, in all aspects. All the clubs are very well organised" - But Phil Scolari's Chelsea side is top of the table so he would say that, wouldn't he?

* "You will never get any help out of me again. I gave you access in South Africa and I shouldn't have given you access. It won't happen again. From now on, no matter how many miles you travel to get an interview, you won't get one" - Sir Alex calls a halt to diplomatic relations with the media, apparently over a perceived twisting of his words regarding an 'ageing' Chelsea side in the summer.

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