Ryan Mason Quotes

Harry Kane is one of the most professional guys I’ve ever seen or come across in my life.

Retiring was very tough, it’s tough at the best of times. Nothing can prepare you for it.

I am and always will be eternally grateful for the incredible network of people around me who have helped me to recover from what was a life-threatening injury in January 2017.

I loved football, that’s all I knew.

In terms of management, I love what I am doing, it’s incredible, I love representing the club and having the honor and responsibility of helping a set of players get football results because there is nothing better.

I look at some kids and they head the ball with the top of the head and their technique is all wrong, therefore the pressure that it’s putting on the brain is a lot more.

Sometimes you have a clash of heads and it feels a bit sore, but I remember the impact was huge. I was touching my head and it felt like it was pouring with blood, but I remember looking and there was nothing on my hand. For me that was a sign it was probably quite serious.

I was a luxury player. Having been pampered at Tottenham for so long, I went into League One and had to graft and learn the ugly side of the game. I grew as a player.

When you’re at a club that’s stable and everyone is enjoying it, it’s very hard to consider leaving.

Obviously I’ve had some injuries and it’s kept me out of the team for quite a long time and it’s always difficult to have long spells on the sidelines and then try to get back into the team.

Tottenham has always been a massive club and we’re getting the mix right.

I spent so long at Spurs that it’s my club. If I was to become a good coach then that would be by DNA with the way they play and the way they go about things.

I understand there is a lot of pressure on managers to get instant results, but English players know the league, and for them to be given the opportunity and the time as well, there is plenty of talent out there.

When I was in the youth team, I didn’t really see a path into the first team initially because there were managers who didn’t really want to promote youth, they’d rather go out and buy someone.

I’d be lying if I said certain comments don’t affect you. We’re human beings. I had to zone out of it and had to take myself off social media as a player because I didn’t want to see it.

I don’t really like singling out players but it’s hard not to.

I can confirm that following specialist medical advice I am having to retire from playing professional football.

Tottenham were great with me.

I want us to be brave and aggressive and play like Tottenham Hotspur.

I’d never tell a player not to back his team-mate because it’s part of being together.

I’m quite a positive person anyway and I realize the benefits of not trying to look at the negatives on things.

I want to score more than 10 goals and help the team to win games.

Obviously it’s my job, a coach’s job to start giving the players a platform and start preparing, start planning.

Maybe bring in sponge balls to learn the technique and gain that experience of actually challenging for a header.

It’s football and anyone involved knows that you have to be prepared.

It has been difficult because I am physically there. But when it is something so sensitive, with your brain and your skull, it does probably make it a little bit easier to accept you are not going to play again, because it could be life-threatening. So that has definitely made it easier.

It wouldn’t surprise me in 10 to 15 years if heading wasn’t involved in the game. The research and the momentum it’s getting, I think it’s probably going to open up a lot more stuff that becomes quite shocking.

A trophy is always welcome, especially after many years without one.

Representing my country is an honor that nobody can ever take away from me and something that I am so proud to have achieved.

I always said to myself that when I stopped playing I would go back and coach at Tottenham.

There were times when I just couldn’t be around noise, and people talking in the same room would have been too much for me.

If you have got a seven- or eight-year-old heading a solid ball, and his brain and his bone in his skull isn’t fully developed, then that could potentially be doing damage.

Every match I watch will be bittersweet. It will always hurt, I’ll always miss competing. That’s what I’ve done my whole life and that burning desire is not just going to leave me.

When you’re very close to having your life taken away from you, it would be strange if that didn’t have an effect on you.

Ultimately the specialists that I’ve seen and spoken to, if you do get a whack on the head and there’s a small sort of concussion, and then you go and get another whack on the head within minutes, then that’s when the damage can be done. And I think that’s where we can potentially protect the players a lot more.

What separates the good players from the greats people remember is consistency.

That’s important as players, we have to be happy to perform to our best.

It’s important that we have the right mentality because it’s not easy to win games in the Premier League.

I respect the fans, they’re the heart and soul of the football club and their opinion matters, it really does.

I think from day one, recovering, it is just try to be as positive as you can.

There were a few clubs in the Championship and I spoke to some managers, but I wanted to play for Tottenham. There was always that doubt that if I left I’d end up regretting it, and I would have definitely regretted it.

There’s plenty of points to play for in the Premier League.

My main priority was to get my health back. I had my family around me and my partner had just had a baby. It put into perspective some of the things that were most important.

In England there’s a philosophy that it’s better to be bigger and stronger. I was in the gym doing bench-presses which had no relevance and it wasn’t helping me on the pitch. It was extra weight I didn’t need and I couldn’t carry. A lot of injuries came through that.

All the moments I’ve had in the last 10, 15 years as a player have maybe shaped me to where I am today. But the way I live my life, the way I think I want to be positive, happy, to have experiences that I can look back on.

Dortmund are a top European side.

I don’t think kids should be heading real balls.

Of course no player wants to end their career with regrets. I don’t think any human being likes having regrets either.

I watch football every day of my life and I’ve always watched football every day of my life.

I think City are probably four or five years ahead of us, they’ve had a manager for such a long time, worked a certain way for such a long time. Going forward, my idea and I’m sure everyone’s idea of Tottenham is to be brave and try and dominate games like they do.