I have an understanding of how much is at stake in football, how much money is at stake, how much investment there is and what it means to the fans. It's an emotional game. It's a focal point for communities. It's escapism for fans. Sport is a wonderful thing but it is just that: sport. It is my job.
Nigel Pearson
Management brings the best and worst out of me, and I think you have to find a distinction between what is work and what isn't work, because football can take over your life.
I'm not going to all of a sudden start wearing a snazzy suit and putting a scarf around my neck, which seemed to be vogue for about 20 minutes at one point.
The Derby experience had not been good for me and the way it finished left a very bad taste in my mouth so I questioned whether I wanted to go back into management.
I never underestimate or overestimate anybody. Really we have to try and find levels of performance for ourselves first.
People whose views are swung when you get into these ridiculous debates - I think they're all nonsense. You've got to have a fundamental belief, you've got to believe in what you believe in.
I live in Sheffield. I got the train in this morning. I had a walk yesterday afternoon and went to the pub in the evening. My family is very important to me.
I'm a human being and I will make mistakes from time to time but what I will say is that any mistakes I make are very honest ones.
I get worn down by people telling you what you can't do or what the problems are. Go on, give us a solution then.
Clubs need to take more ownership on how they recruit managers.
Sometimes I just need solitude, which is really rather nice.
Part and parcel of trying to understand and recognise your strengths and weaknesses is to be brutally honest with how you reflect on what you are yourself. I can't fundamentally change what I am.
I've been asked whether I was worried about getting a reputation as a firefighter and it doesn't bother me.
I would like football clubs to be more aware of what their philosophy is, then recruit managers who fit the profile that suits them.
I think a lot of people, when the word leadership is used, they think of it as quite forceful and quite a rigid thing. I think people think I am like that. But people can lead in different ways.
You always need enough results to buy you time to do things over a longer period of time.
Going to Belgium proved to be quite a cathartic experience for me because it eventually helped to heal the situation of leaving Leicester too.
Some people criticise me for not being animated enough, for sitting in stands and not showing any passion. I come down, get involved in a couple of situations and all of a sudden, it's a slightly different angle.
Sometimes I just need to be out in nature. It's amazing how much I need time on my own.
I've noticed being back in football that, after some anonymity, people recognise you again. It's a pain in the neck.
One of the things I am grateful for is that I was able to make contact again with Khun Vichai and work with him again. I still have an awful lot of admiration, warmth and respect for how he worked. I still feel that connection to the people I worked with at Leicester.
I enjoyed living abroad. I enjoyed the differences as much as anything.
I find it quite amusing that it's feasible that your opponents can have somebody watching you.
The way football has evolved in some of the bigger leagues in the world, you'd have to say there has become a bigger distance between the contact that you have, for everybody really. It's quite refreshing actually to experience something as simplistic as enjoying winning a game, and the players and the fans being together.
I've been in a few tangles in my time. And a lot of them have been of my own making because of how I feel I need to protect the people I'm working with - that is the players.
I love the other side of life, I like to do what interests me. People talk about bucket lists - I hate that. You might as well call it the coffin list.
I hope I retain the appetite to find new things to stimulate me, whether that's travel or finding new interests. I'll always go out and enjoy nature and the countryside, because it's a big part of my life.
I treat people fairly. I can't be dictatorial. We have multicultural dressing rooms and what's really important is that you have a way of working that brings the best out of everyone.
For players to perform near their best every week is commendable.
People need to know their role to produce performances and results.
The Premier League, the power of it sometimes overtakes the people involved in it.
I have to accept the trouble I've got into, a lot of it has been either decisions I've made or probably not thought long and hard enough about.
You either like or don't like people warts and all. You've got to look yourself in the mirror. I don't like all the aspects of what I do and am, or things I've done, but you've got to live with it.
I won't write a book. I haven't got a magnum opus in me.
I like being out there. I've done Snowdon, walked a bit of the Cleveland Way, did some of the Coast to Coast.
When I went to the 2007 Europeans with the Under-21s, we were based at Oosterbeek near Arnhem and I went out on my bike a few times. We went over the bridge. I went to some of the war cemeteries there: very, very moving.
Whenever you are out of work, you need to take the opportunity to do things you like to do.
When you lose your job and it is about football, I can quickly put things in order and move on.
I'm very happy to shoulder the responsibility for my football team.
Football clubs need to have a better understanding of what the club stands for and how they go about thier business.
When you play the bigger clubs it's important that when you create chances, you do everything you can to take them.
It's never a straightforward thing to do, to be able to inherit a squad. When you're mid-season it's never easy to get a team or a squad of players to function exactly the way you want them to.
When things go well I'm always looking for the next hiccup.
