Gareth Southgate

Our country has been through some difficult moments recently in terms of its unity. But sport can unite.

I don't know how you get in the England squad without getting in the Arsenal team.

In every position on the field, there's really strong competition.

You expect the players to fight for their club and fight for their shirt, and when they come together, they are fighting for England.

You give everything you have, build friendships within your team - in international football, you give everything for your country and play in a way that you hope connects with the fans.

My priority is, do my players feel supported from within their dressing room by their own federation?

My players' feeling is the most important thing for me.

Whenever you're in an England shirt, you have an opportunity to make history.

When the positions of so many managers is precarious, and there isn't long-term stability, I can understand why they are loath to risk.

I think we have seen evidence that being brave enough to go abroad can lead to a proper opportunity.

The quality of our academy system is very high, as good as anything in the world. Around the country, lots of people in youth development are keen to get together and find a solution to that 17-to-21 age bracket and how we get those players playing.

Nobody can tell me that if players are good enough, they will come through. That is not true. There are plenty of players who are good enough.

Write your own stories.

I don't think the qualifying fixtures excite people. They're games against countries that we are expected to beat, rightly so, and then how many we score dictates whether it's a good performance or not.

More expectation is a healthy thing and something we have to embrace.

No England international is a practice match. Every time you wear this shirt, it is of importance for you, the country, and the supporters.

I think I've made decisions for the right reasons, and I've always communicated them in a respectful way. As a manager, you can't do any more than that. I sit comfortably with that. But I've not enjoyed it.

If we are gong to be an outstanding team, we need players who are going to step up in the big moments and realise, every time they play for England, they have the chance to be involved in an iconic moment, a historic performance, and that they have that choice every time they go on the field.

The world always changes, and teams go through evolutions.

There are lots of statements that have been made and haven't led to change and reform. For me, the broader discussion around racism - education is key.

I think we've always got to have a mind of the feeling for the supporters about the importance of each match. We've got to be careful not to make tournaments too big and then make qualifying too straightforward.

I think one of the important things around tournaments and qualifying tournaments is the jeopardy around it.

You want all players to be free of overthinking. That's when they're in a good place and a good flow.

In any sport, you're at your best when you're playing without thinking too much.

I'm slightly concerned, because as a centre-half who took a lot of knocks to the head I'm not normally synonymous with being a fashion icon.

When you're a leader and a manager, you have to make decisions which are right for your group to achieve the primary objective. Sometimes those decisions will be criticised.

You're always loath to take a player off of his ability.

I expect all the players, even the younger ones, to show leadership in their own way.

I don't think, when you are involved with England, you can ever write any game or tournament off - that wouldn't be acceptable.

Good teams, whatever the circumstances or the atmosphere or the pitch, find a way of playing.

I've got to think through all of those things - competition for places, players who need match minutes, and keeping the unity of the squad.

We want to win every game of football we go into. I don't know how we would go into a game not wanting to win and not wanting to play well.

If we want to be a top team, we can't get to 3-0 and suddenly decide not to play without the ball. We have to play with intelligence right through the game.

Very often, you can go into one game and do really well, and then you have to find that level of performance so quickly again.

For me, it is all about the bigger picture and what is right for England. I haven't enjoyed watching us play in all our games, but away in Germany, against Spain and Germany at home, I've enjoyed the performance.

Looking at the team sheets, you're never quite sure one weekend to the next who's going to be in a team and who isn't.

If you keep always doing what you've always done, you get the same results.

I think it's always difficult to go against people with big match experience in finals.

It's an incredible privilege to be the England manager, but when you sit and think about the people who have got to this point before, people I hugely respect and admire... it's difficult to put it into perspective, really.

I manage every player as well as I possibly can, regardless of which club they're from, what their roots are.

I'm not the authority on the subject. I'm a middle-aged white guy speaking about racism. I'm just finding it a really difficult subject to broach.

My kids don't think, for one minute, about where people are born, what language they speak, what colour they are. There's an innocence about young people that is only influenced by older people.

My sole focus is producing the best team possible for England.

I'm committed to England, simple as that. I don't need to hedge my bets in keeping doors open or keeping things alive.

You can never say you've 'made it,' because that's the day you stop progressing and improving.

You always have to be conscious of how your words can provide motivation to the opposition.

Whenever people speak, you give the opposition the opportunity to use those words as they see fit.

I am not sure I will ever wear a waistcoat again, frankly!

If we are encouraging kids to go into academies, then presumably we are selling them the dream that they can play first-team football.

It's very difficult to pick a 17-year-old who's had 10 minutes of first-team football. You're talking about replacing senior players with some 17-year-olds who haven't played Premier League football.