The Mixer Quotes

“A year before Wenger’s appointment, Leyton Orient manager John Sitton had been the subject of a Channel 4 documentary that recorded him threatening to fight his own players in a famously bizarre dressing-room outburst. ‘When I tell you to do something, do it, and if you come back at me, we’ll have a fucking right sort-out in here,’ he roared at two players. ‘All right? And you can pair up if you like, and you can fucking pick someone else to help you, and you can bring your fucking dinner, ’coz by the time I’ve finished with you, you’ll fucking need it.’ That was the 1990s football manager.”
― Michael Cox, The Mixer: The Story of Premier League Tactics, from Route One to False Nines

“FA Cup successes in 2005”
― Michael Cox, The Mixer: The Story of Premier League Tactics, from Route One to False Nines

“Chelsea were no underdog – in Mourinho’s first season they won the league with 95 points, the Premier League’s highest tally.”
― Michael Cox, The Mixer: The Story of Premier League Tactics, from Route One to False Nines

“Leeds lasted just one more season in the Premier League, and have never returned.”
― Michael Cox, The Mixer: The Story of Premier League Tactics, from Route One to False Nines

“And that was what Bolton’s game was all about – for their first couple of seasons in the Premier League they were brilliant at the simple, Sunday league concept of second balls.”
― Michael Cox, The Mixer: The Story of Premier League Tactics, from Route One to False Nines

“No one before or since has achieved the treble:”
― Michael Cox, The Mixer: The Story of Premier League Tactics, from Route One to False Nines

“That dominated the headlines, but the greater issue was that Newcastle’s lack of shape had never been more obvious. Newcastle won 43 per cent of matches with Asprilla, compared with 75 per cent without him.”
― Michael Cox, The Mixer: The Story of Premier League Tactics, from Route One to False Nines

“the use of cheerleaders was short-lived, possibly after concerns from the presenter over their understanding of the offside rule.”
― Michael Cox, The Mixer: The Story of Premier League Tactics, from Route One to False Nines

“Vardy’s rise was truly remarkable. He’d been released by Sheffield Wednesday as a teenager and completely quit football for seven months, before storming up the footballing pyramid in a manner rarely witnessed, starting at eighth-tier Stocksbridge Park Steels, where his wage was £30 a week. Following a conviction for assault, he played for six months with an electronic tag around his ankle and was forced to observe a home curfew from 6 pm every evening, which meant being substituted midway through the second half at away matches and driving home quickly. Then came a move to seventh-tier Halifax Town for £15,000, while he worked full-time at a factory making carbon-fibre splints. Twenty-nine goals in 41 games earned him a transfer to Fleetwood Town, in the fifth tier of English football. He spent just a season there, because 34 goals in 42 matches meant Leicester were prepared to spend £1m to secure his services – a record for a non-league player.”
― Michael Cox, The Mixer: The Story of Premier League Tactics, from Route One to False Nines

“Second, and even more impressively, they became the first side in top-flight history to score in every league game, a record that’s been unfairly – if understandably – overshadowed by the Invincibles campaign.”
― Michael Cox, The Mixer: The Story of Premier League Tactics, from Route One to False Nines

“There are two types of coaches. There’s coaches like me who weigh up the opposition and ask the team to adjust. Fergie was similar. José [Mourinho] is similar. Then there’s Arsène, who won’t adjust. There’s Brendan [Rodgers], who looks like he won’t adjust. There’s Manuel Pellegrini, who looks like he won’t adjust … their philosophy is different to ours. Ours is more about who are we playing against. Their philosophy is more, “We always play this way,” and they won’t change, they carry on doing the same thing. That’s why you can beat them.”
― Michael Cox, The Mixer: The Story of Premier League Tactics, from Route One to False Nines