“When you are in charge of a top club, where expectations are high you have to deal with that.”

I did as well as I could at Newcastle.

Finishing fifth in the Premier League with a great team was a fine effort and we also got to the quarterfinals of the Europa League and nearly got past a Benfica side that went to the final.

It affects people around me, but it was my job to see through that.

I look at Rafa Benitez in his time at Liverpool, he had difficult periods and the same goes for Brendan Rodgers in the same job now.

If you’ve had a bad experience with an agent, you have to move past it.

It’s probably a greater reflection of youngsters from France and elsewhere in Europe.

It (Arsenal) is an English club but not an English success.

Until that issue is addressed, no Premier League team wants to be in the Europa League. That’s the reality, even if some don’t want to admit it.

We struggled with it at Newcastle and we were not alone in that among the English clubs.

It’s important that top clubs don’t lose sight of the fact that it’s the English Premier League and English players should be involved.

If you’ve seen the Harry Potter films, we use the term ‘dementors’ – people who can draw the life out of you in terms of your energy.

I didn’t listen to half of the criticism I received. I just didn’t let it enter my brain.

You have to have tactical plans to get a deal over the line.

You feel vulnerable when you hear things that are not being said.

I would not want to be the Europa League in the current format, that’s for sure.

You always have to have faith in your own abilities and that has to be evident to your players.

You can change your spouse, your friends but never your club.

You’re 28, why are you going to goth clubs? Do what I do, sit at home & wait to die. You don’t have to kill yourself, you’re just waiting.

Mile high club, it’s got its ups and downs.

A discourse that begins at a book club in a living room, but then spreads. That is meaningful to me.

To be honest, I think about the clubs when I write. But I should probably start thinking about stadiums, because the songs sound even better there – and bigger.

The craziest thing is that the song [“My President”] is real but you can still hear it in the club.

The world, as a rule, does not live on beaches and in country clubs.

Being at a club that supported me meant a lot.