Bryan Robson

You can't let players do what they wish and be professional. That's a fact. As for the team, Boro had two internationals when I got there in 1995. Now they have more than 15. And they didn't cost the fortune some suggest. ”

Could I have walked out then? If I had, Terry wouldn't have accepted the job. ”

Last season when things weren't working out, I thought we needed a different voice around the place. ”

All the stuff about being a drinking club, or having players who were not good enough, I treat as rubbish. ”

A lot of people, some of them close to me as well, have said that I sacrificed myself by doing what I did in bringing Terry on board. I didn't see it that way. ”

I've left Boro in the Premiership, which was always what I wanted to do. Actually that's not quite true. I took them to three cup finals, where they'd never been before. But I had set my eyes on being the first manager in their history to deliver a major trophy. ”

I had to make a change. It was no slight on my staff either. We'd all been at Boro for seven years. But certain players had got too familiar with the set-up. I had to turn it round. Terry was the one man I could think of to do it. So I went for him. ”

In a way, certain sections of the media always wanted to knock me because I had captained my country and been skipper at Old Trafford. It was all a bit odd really. ”