Sports Quotes of 1992: Managerspeak: 'A few fly bites cannot stop a spirited horse'

We're at the bottom of the league because we're crap. We're not good enough to be anywhere else . . . The nation I can put right overnight but I can't get a win. I am in the shit . . . If it meant getting three points on a Saturday I would shoot my grandmother. Not nastily, I would just hurt her. Brian Clough.

They can wear jeans and ear-rings for all I care, but I'll draw the line at suspenders and stockings - until after the game. Joe Kinnear, Wimbledon manager, on his predecessor's controversial no-jeans rule.

I've just introduced Nigel Martyn to a clean sheet. The last time he had one Kenneth Wolstenholme was the commentator. Steve Coppell, Crystal Palace manager, on his goalkeeper, after a goalless draw at Manchester City.

Some of our players have got no brains, so I'm giving them the day off tomorrow to rest them. David Kemp, Plymouth Argyle manager, after his team's 5-0 FA Cup defeat at Bristol Rovers.

Women run everything. The only thing I have done within my house in the last 20 years is to recognise Angola as an independent state. Clough.

A few fly bites cannot stop a spirited horse. John Beck, then Cambridge manager, responds in programme notes to criticisms of his team's style.

Bugger Cloughie. What about me? I've never won the FA Cup either, you know. Jim Smith, whose Portsmouth side beat Nottingham Forest 1-0 in the sixth round of the FA Cup.

I don't understand it. It's not like it said in the brochure. Kevin Keegan, who had been rumoured to be resigning, on his troubled first few weeks as Newcastle United manager.

If you think managing Liverpool is a danger to your health, try managing Barnet. Graeme should have a tent like me, drive an F reg Cavalier, get paid pounds 5 and have a chairman like Stan Flashman. Barry Fry, Barnet manager, after Graeme Souness's heart operation.

I don't want to say anything - not even 'no comment'. Ron Atkinson, Aston Villa manager, on his pursuit of Liverpool's Dean Saunders.

My wife says: 'Come up the drive smiling.' I drive up the drive, it's pissing down. My face is my face. It's hard to smile when you're bottom of the league. Clough.

(Photograph omitted)