Origins should never be a barrier to success. A modest start in life can be a help more than a hindrance. If you're examining successful people, look at their mother and father, study what they did, for clues about energy and motivation.

The one thing I could never allow was loss of control, because control was my only saviour.

when you're managing change, you have to accept the quieter spells and acknowledge that transformations take longer than a year.

I couldn't take sides against mu players. I had to find solutions other than castigating them in public. Sometimes I had to fine or punish them, of course, but I could never let it out of the dressing room. I would have felt I had betrayed the one constant principle of my time as a manager: to defend. No, not to defend, but to protect them from outside judgments.

The thing every good leader should have is an instinct.

Faced with the need to confront a player who had performed below our expectation, I might have said: That was rubbish, that.' But then I would follow it up with, 'For a player of your ability. That was for picking them back up from the initial blow. Criticise but balance it out with encouragement. 'Why are you doing that? You're better than that.

There is a psychological dimension also to handling indiavidual players. With errant behaviour it helps to look for a moment through their eyes. You were young once, so put yourself in their position. You do something wrong, you're waiting to be punished. What's he going to say?' you think. Or, What's my dad going to say?' The aim is to make the biggest possible impact. What would have made the deepest imprint on me at that stage of life?

If they lose faith in your knowledge, they lose faith in you. That grasp of the facts must be kept at a high level, for all time. You have to be accurate in what you say to the players.

The supporters were entitled to know when I was unhappy with a performance. But not an individual.