A LANGUAGE OF ITS OWN..

I`ve noticed over the years that the world of football has developed a language of its own.  It is, at the end of the day, a game of two halves which is probably why it has formed its own unique yet charming lexicon.  In my playing days of dubbin, Sloane`s liniment, half an orange and a fag at half time I thought of myself as a box-to-box right half with a decent engine and an eye for a pass - they don`t have right halves any more, instead preferring midfield dynamos - but even in those far off days there were words and phrases that cropped up in games which were a touch baffling - for example, I still recall being puzzled by references to dirt boxes and mixers.  

But what football does have in its locker is an innate gift for statements by those in the game which I`m sure they would have been disappointed with when they saw the replays on Match of the Day; perhaps realising that they should have been more clinical in the final third.  Anyway, here`s a random collection that should have been buried in the top corner - to be fair:-

1. "Both sides have scored a couple of goals, and both sides have conceded a couple of goals." —Peter Withe
2. "I've been consistent in patches this season." —Theo Walcott
3. "In the end, Rosicky initially did well." —Andy Townsend
4. "The thing about goalscorers is that they score goals." —Tony Cottee
5. "The last six games of the Invincibles season were the most pressurised, because we were under pressure." —Ray Parlour
6. "He's got a lot of self-belief in himself." —Graham Beecroft
7. "They were numerically outnumbered." —Garry Birtles
8. "Not to win is guttering." —Mark Noble
9. "And with 4 minutes gone, the score is already 0-0." —Ian Dark
10. "I'm going to make a prediction—it could go either way." —Rob Atkinson
11. "Certain people are for me and certain people are pro me." —Terry Venables
12. "Reading won't have the confidence to be confident." —Paul Merson
13. "If we played like this every week, we wouldn't be so inconsistent." —Bryan Robson
14. "The one significant change is, in fact, the second significant change." —Jonathan Pearce
15. "Strangely, in slow motion replay, the ball seemed to hang in the air for even longer." —David Acfield
16. "Glenn Hoddle hasn't been the Hoddle we know. Neither has Bryan Robson." —Ron Greenwood
17. "I don't think there is anybody bigger or smaller than Maradona." —Kevin Keegan
18. "For those of you watching in black and white, Spurs are in the all-yellow strip." —John Motson
19. "I never comment on referees, and I'm not going to break the habit of a lifetime for that prat." —Ron Atkinson
20. "I would not say he [David Ginola] is the best left winger in the Premiership, but there are none better." —Ron Atkinson
21. "What will you do when you leave football, Jack—will you stay in football?" —Stuart Hall
22. "The new West Stand casts a giant shadow over the entire pitch, even on a sunny day." —Chris Jones
23. "You don't score 64 goals in 86 games at the highest level without being able to score goals." —Alan Green
24. "Matty Jarvis had acres of time there." —Stan Collymore
25. "It's an unprecedented precedent." —Clark Carlisle
26. "...but Arsenal are quick to credit Bergkamp with laying on 75% of their nine goals." —Tony Gubba
27. "If you closed your eyes, you couldn't tell the difference between the two sides." —Phil Brown
28. "He dribbles a lot, and the opposition don't like it—you can see it all over their faces." —Ron Atkinson
29. "If history repeats itself, I should think we can expect the same thing again." —Terry Venables
30. "They're the second-best team in the world, and there's no higher praise than that." —Kevin Keegan
31. "A game is not won until it is lost." —David Pleat
32. "I definitely want Brooklyn to be christened, but I don't know into what religion yet." —David Beckham
33. "I never make predictions, and I never will." —Paul Gascoigne
34. "I couldn't settle in Italy. It was like living in a foreign country." —Ian Rush
35. "There are two ways of getting the ball. One is from your own team-mates, and that's the only way." —Terry Venables
36. "A contract on a piece of paper, saying you want to leave, is like a piece of paper saying you want to leave." —John Hollins
37. "We must have had 99 percent of the match. It was the other three percent that cost us." —Ruud Gullit
38. "I always used to put my right boot on first, and then obviously my right sock."—Barry Venison
39. "My parents have been there for me, ever since I was about 7." —David Beckham
40. "I would not be bothered if we lost every game as long as we won the league." —Mark Viduka
41. "If you don't believe you can win, there is no point in getting out of bed at the end of the day." —Neville Southall
42. "I can see the carrot at the end of the tunnel." —Stuart Pearce
43. "I'd like to play for an Italian club, like Barcelona." —Mark Draper
44. "One accusation you can't throw at me is that I've always done my best." —Alan Shearer
45. "All that remains is for a few dots and commas to be crossed." —Mitchell Thomas
46. "Without being too harsh on David Beckham, he cost us the match." - Ian Wright
47. "Germany are a very difficult team to play... they had 11 internationals out there today." —Steve Lomas
48. "I've had 14 bookings this season, 8 of which were my fault, but 7 of which were disputable." —Paul Gascoigne
49. "He's put on weight, and I've lost it, and vice versa." —Ronnie Whelan
50. "The first ninety minutes of a football match are the most important." —Bobby Robson.