As a player, I loved being tackled, whether it was in training or in a game. I took a full-blooded challenge as an invitation to do exactly the same thing to an opponent. I would wait for my opportunity and nine times out of 10, I would get him back.

Managing a club like Oldham has to be an all-absorbing, seven-days-a-week commitment.

If you go down the leagues, you have to understand what level you're working with, and if you get frustrated, then it's not going to ever happen for you. That's why a lot of managers don't succeed where they should do.

You buy the right players for the system that you believe will be successful.

When a team is relegated, a new leader can help turn the page at a club.

There were players I shared a dressing room with who didn't like each other. You don't have to talk to each other. You just need to win matches.

Let me be clear: I am sick of having to criticise the club which I gave my life to as a footballer.

When I started as a pro at United, I played alongside Bryan Robson in the A-team and later in the senior side. With Bryan, it didn't matter what level we were playing or which one of his team-mates got kicked. Within five minutes, you could guarantee that the opponent in question would be in a heap on the floor, courtesy of Bryan.

A cup final is all about seizing the moment. You cannot put right a mistake or a missed opportunity the following week.

When I watch Jurgen Klopp's Borussia Dortmund side, I see a manager who is determined to play in his opponent's half, who is committed to attacking football, and, from the way he conducts himself on the touchline, is clearly an interesting, charismatic personality.

I like to watch batsmen who will entertain and, as things stand, an opening spell from Jimmy Anderson is about as good as it gets.

When it came to playing Arsenal over the last eight years of my career at United, we always went into games against them feeling like we would win - and we usually did.

There is something about a cup final that brings out a different quality in a footballer. Do they have the courage to win a one-off match?

When I go into management, I want to do so with 100 per cent commitment.

At some point, a young player has to grasp the opportunity and make himself undroppable.

You knew where you stood with Sir Alex Ferguson.

There are times in the career of every young English footballer when they simply need to take their chance to establish themselves.

My view is that the signing of players should be a simple process. The chief scout identifies them, the manager decides who he wants, and the chief executive is dispatched to do the deal. It really is as simple as that.

Things change, although I believe that certain principles - of attacking, entertaining football - should always be protected.

The way a top team develops means that once you have won the league title, the natural step is to try to win the Champions League.

The best goalkeeper I played with at United was Schmeichel. He was a phenomenon in training, never mind on match days. He just never wanted to concede, and he would do everything to stop you scoring.

It is very difficult for me to breathe when it's hot and humid.

If I was to become a manager, I would not want someone else to be signing the players for the team that my job depended on.

I was fortunate to play with so many wonderful footballers and under the greatest manager of all time, but I do believe that a club's ethos, the principles of how it plays, should outlive even the biggest individuals in its history.