‘OVER THE MOON’
The second part of our managerial quotes of the season
LAST week, we published some of the best managerial quotes from the opening couple of months of the season. Here, John Lyons trawls through The Football League Paper archives to find some more gems from the first half of this season: 8-10-17: Shrewsbury boss Paul Hurst after his side were awarded a penalty for a handball save by Jon Guthrie in the 1-1 draw at Walsall – but no red card was dished out
“Between the four officals they couldn’t decide who handled the ball. It was like he was the Invisible Man.” 8-10-17: Accrington Stanley boss John Coleman also suffers handball hell, in the 2-0 home loss against Luton
“We’ve been denied not one handball shout, but I made it three, all of which were stopping shots at goal as far as I could see. It felt as though we were playing against two goalkeepers at times.” 15-10-17: Charlton boss Karl Robinson after referee Robert Lewis was pole-axed after colliding with his powerhouse striker Josh Magennis in the 1-0 win against Doncaster
“When you see the size of the referee – he’s not the biggest – he wasn’t in a good way. I’ve just seen him to make sure he’s OK. He said he’s a bit dazed. I said to him: ‘You started like that!’” 15-10-17: Stevenage boss Darren Sarll blows his top after the 7-1 thrashing at Luton
“We’ve disgraced ourselves. We’ve disgraced the football club. We’ve disgraced our town and we deserve all the obvious criticisms that are coming our way. So many of our senior characters did not go toe-to-toe with them and cried aimlessly in the corner. If the transfer window was open tomorrow morning, all of my players who played would be on that transfer
list.”
22-10-17: QPR boss Ian Holloway after his side’s 1-1 draw at physically-imposing Bolton
“They’re probably one of the biggest teams I’ve ever played against – or maybe I’m getting shorter.” 22-10-17: Mansfield boss Steve Evans after the weather conditions turned against his side in the 1-1 draw at Newport
“In the second half, I don’t know what it is, but I must have run over four black cats this month.” 29-10-17: Cardiff boss Neil Warnock after some controversial calls in the 0-0 draw against Millwall “I thought the referee was consistent – consistently poor.” 29-10-17: Ipswich boss Mick McCarthy knows he’s not flavour of the month with the fans even after a 2-1 win at Burton
“They’ve got me, a big-nosed f ***** g old fart with boring football, until May unless someone decides otherwise.” 5-11-17: Hull boss Leonid Slutsky laments a 4-1 loss at Sheffield United after leading 1-0 at the break
“It is very bad. Terrible. We were completely broken after the first goal. It was like a mannequin show, and it is not the first time.” 5-11-17: Aston Villa boss Steve Bruce on going down 2-1 at home against Sheffield Wednesday and losing skipper John Terry to injury
“Getting beaten you accept, but losing key players is critical for us. It’s this game we are in. It kicks you in the balls.” 5-11-17: Millwall boss Neil Harris is stunned by referee Tony Harrington’s controversial decision to send off Jed Wallace for fouling Burton’s Tom Flanagan
“In the heat of the moment, I couldn’t believe it when I saw a red card. I thought he’d pulled the wrong card out.” Maidstone 5-11-17: Cheltenham boss Gary Johnson on being sent to the stands in the 4-2 FA Cup reverse against
“The referee misinterpreted something I did with my hands and, if the linesman had made three mistakes instead of two, I wouldn’t have been asked to sit in the stand. I have never stuck two fingers up at anyone – not even in the street – and certainly not in my football career.” 12-11-17: Rotherham boss Paul Warne can see the funny side of skipper Richard Wood’s own goal against Doncaster after his side salvaged a last-gasp draw
“Woody says that will go on a bloopers DVD for Christmas. He should have scored. Then he kindly donated a goal to them!” 12-11-17: Plymouth boss Derek Adams has a simple explanation after his side’s 1-0 success at Bradford
“You need to score goals, and we scored one more than Bradford. That’s why we’ve won.” 19-11-17: Fuming Charlton boss Karl Robinson after a ‘soft’ last-gasp penalty deprived his side of victory against MK Dons
“If I had a cat, it would be getting volleyed all over the place when I get home.” 19-11-17: At least Bristol Rovers boss Darrell Clarke has solved one problem after a 3-1 home defeat against AFC Wimbledon
“Our problem was inconsistency, but that is no longer the case because we are losing every week.” 19-11-17: Luton boss Nathan Jones says his boys are outdoing Barcelona after their 7-0 romp against Cambridge
“Seven is beyond our wildest dreams. To do it three times in a season .... not many do that at any level. Not even Barca do seven three times a season.” 19-11-17: Cambridge boss Shaun Derry tells it straight after his side’s Luton horror show
“I feel really embarrassed and I’m sure every fan that has paid to come and watch us out there is going home feeling angry, embarrassed and aggrieved, because I certainly am.” 26-11-17: Bristol City boss Lee Johnson after his side came from 2-0 down to beat Hull 3-2.
“It was a bit like parenting a little baby. It’s horrendous, horrendous and then you get that little bit of joy.” 26-11-17: Rochdale boss Keith Hill celebrates 500 games as a league manager with a 2-0 home win against Peterborough but hits
out at some disgruntled fans
“I’m happy with the performance and the result, but I’m not happy hearing chants of ‘You’re getting sacked in the morning’ or ‘You must be s*** because we’re winning at home’ when you look at our home record.” 26-11-17: Stevenage boss Darren Sarll believes poor finishing and poor officiating cost his side in the 1-0 defeat at Cambridge
“I feel like someone’s mugged me. It’s hugely frustrating to come away with nothing after that performance. I spent the whole game angry with the officials – they were amateur. The tackle on Jonathan Smith was ridiculous.” 3-12-17: Sheffield Wednesday’s under-pressure boss Carlos Carvalhal hits out after the Owls were denied a penalty when Hull’s Ondrej Mazuch appeared to block a goalbound Adam Reach shot with his hands – before Hull netted a last-gasp equaliser
“I am upset because, in ten games, that is ten bad decisions against us. It is unbelievable. The defender, he acted like a goalkeeper.” 3-12-17: Devastated Oxford City manager Mark Jones after his FA Cup heroes were beaten by a 94th-minute Jorge Grant goal for Notts County
“We have to accept the result, but it is so tough because we have had players in tears. How we are going to get the players over this I don’t know because to get so close is heartbreaking. It wasn’t even a late goal. It was right at the very death.” 10-12-17: Mick McCarthy’s blunt view after Ipswich’s 2-0 defeat at Middlesbrough
“The second goal is just bonkers from our point of view. Having given them the second goal, they looked like a bloody good team and we looked like a bunch of chumps chasing them around.” 10-12-17: Doncaster Rovers boss Darren Ferguson seethes at ref Seb Stockbridge after his side are denied a draw at Oxford by Josh Ruffels’ 96th-minute winner
“The fourth official put up three minutes and we play sixand-a-half minutes of injury-time. I just don’t know where he’s got that from. He gave them a penalty which was never a penalty, the ball was out of play in the build-up to the goal and the game should be finished by the time the boy puts the ball in the net. The referee is here to do a job and he hasn’t done his job and I can’t accept that.” 10-12-17: Rochdale boss Keith Hill on his side’s 4-3 defeat at Bradford
“Our players are absolving themselves of their responsibilities. I may as well stay at home and pick names out of a hat.” 10-12-17: Crewe boss David Artell slams ref Dean Whitestone after his side’s 1-0 defeat at Cheltenham
“It’s a tough job, refereeing, but when you miss blatant penalties you don’t get any sympathy from me.” 17-12-17: Delighted QPR boss Ian Holloway after defender Jack Robinson broke his scoring duck by notching both goals in the 2-1 victory at Birmingham
“It’s about 115 games and he hasn’t scored before, so I’ve just asked the doping team to test him!” 17-12-17: Furious Accrington Stanley boss John Coleman after Farrend Rawson was sent off for pulling back Lincoln’s Matt Green and a penalty was awarded
“If I didn’t love this game so much, I would pack my bags and walk away from the sport now. The standard of refereeing this season has been nothing short of appalling and it has happened again. I just get fed up with it every week.” 17-12-17: Mansfield boss Steve Evans defends his players after a frustrating 0-0 draw at home against Yeovil
“We are hurting and it is going to be a long night. I hear the players have been called rubbish by the fans. That is just frustration from the stands. We are all frustrated. The players are not rubbish. They are talented boys.” 17-12-17: Barnet boss Mark McGree is a relieved man after a 2-1 home victory against Morecambe lifted the Bees off the foot of the table
“Psychologically, it’s a great lift because bottom of the league is not a pretty thing. It’s not something you can ignore. It’s pretty embarrassing. I get people say to me: ‘where are you in the league?’ You’re hoping they’re not going to ask you that question. At least I can say we’re not bottom.” 24-12-17: Sheffield Wednesday boss Carlos Carvalhal bemoans missing nine players due to injury after the 2-1 defeat against Middlesbrough. It turned out to be his last match in charge of the Owls
“If you plan to go to London, you take your car and maybe you think you will be there in three hours. But after 20 minutes you don’t have fuel and must put fuel in. And after we have a problem with the battery. And after the wheels have a problem. So, instead of going in three hours, you must go in four or five.” 24-12-17: Ipswich boss Mick McCarthy reflects on Wolves’ strength-indepth after going down 1-0 to his old club “It’s a bonkers club compared to some – I had to call a player back on loan from Aldershot to fill my bench!” 24-12-17: Luton boss Nathan Jones on trying to keep all his strikers happy by shuffling his pack
“I’m not playing a donkey up there, or a kangaroo, or anything silly. What I’m doing is making changes for the right reasons.” 24-12-17: Lincoln boss Danny Cowley looks on the bright side after having coins thrown at him by Newport County fans in their 0-0 draw “I’ve got about £1.20 in my pocket now, so I’ll go and have a can of Coke with that.” 24-12-17: Forest Green Rovers boss Mark Cooper urges his players to toughen up after their 1-0 home defeat against Carlisle
“It’s not about tactics or sexy football – it’s about rolling your sleeves up and growing a pair.” 24-12-17: Coventry manager Mark Robins on Michael Doyle’s incredible 40-yard thunderbolt from out on the left flank in the 3-2 win Wycombe
“We moved the ball well and ended up taking the lead with a sublime shot that Doyle has been working on in training!”