ON PLAYING RANGERS AT IBROX AS UNDER 18s MANAGER:

"I’ll never forget when I’m invited to Ibrox. It’s an iconic stadium. I’ve got a lot of respect for this football club and its history and tradition.

"That’s the reason we took this invitation up. I had to take the opportunity to bring my team up to experience playing in front of that stadium.

"Just being in the surroundings and the dressing room, it’s a wonderful place."

Read more: Liverpool legend Steven Gerrard waiting on financial assurances for Rangers manager post​

ON CELTIC AND PARKHEAD:

"I was lucky to play here one night in Europe and you can feel it as an opposition player. For the first few minutes I was lost with the noise.

"Before you know it you can be a goal down or be right under pressure."

ON HIS FORMER MANAGER BRENDAN RODGERS?

"He's top drawer. He's very slick on the training ground, he's a fantastic man manager, he makes you feel good and confident all the time.

"He helped me an awful lot. People might not think that but he helped break my game down and change my game so you've got to give him a lot of credit."

ON SCOTT BROWN:

"There's all different ways to be tough as a footballer.

"I think some of the ones that look tough and bounce around the football pitch acting tough are probably the ones that are not. I think where this comes from is Scott Brown

"I've played against Scott Brown and he's a tough competitor, a really good player.”

Read more: Liverpool legend Steven Gerrard waiting on financial assurances for Rangers manager post​

ON HIS STYLE OF FOOTBALL AS A COACH:

" You have to get them to be mentally strong to be prepared. I hate watching footballers and football when there is no physical side and you don’t compete.

"My teams will be physical.”

ON WHY HE TURNED DOWN CHANCE TO MANAGE MK DONS:

"It would have been learning on the job at the deep end and I probably wasn’t ready for that job. I might have been, but I didn’t want to take any risks, especially when there is no timescale or plan of where I want to be in a certain time, so the Under 18s made sense."

ON YOUNG PLAYERS TODAY:

"There is a showboating mentality through Academies. A lot of kids think they have to do 10 lollipops or Cruyff turns to look good or stand out. We all love a bit of skill and talent but the other side of the game is huge.

"Maybe showboating comes from computer games, I don’t know. They try and model their game on players like Ronaldo whereas you have to look at yourself and say: ‘What have I got? What are my strengths? How can I improve my weaknesses and become a player in my own right?’"

ON FORMER TEAM MATE AND FORMER RANGERS STAR EL-HADJI DIOUF:

"It seemed to me that Diouf had no real interest in football and that he cared nothing about Liverpool. 

"For example, the way he spat a huge globule of gunky phlegm at a Celtic fan in a UEFA Cup match at Parkhead in March 2003 summed up his contemptuous and spiteful demeanour.

Read more: Liverpool legend Steven Gerrard waiting on financial assurances for Rangers manager post​

"After a while I decided Diouf simply wasn't your usual footballer. It seemed to me as if football got in the way of his social life." 

ON SIR ALEX FERGUSON'S COMMENTS THAT HE WASN'T A 'TOP PLAYER':

"I’m a huge fan of Alex Ferguson and what he’s done in the game is fantastic. I was generally a little bit gutted when he said I wasn’t a top, top player. But I won’t lose sleep over it, everyone is entitled to their opinion.

"He tried to sign me in early 2002/03, he tried to sign me again to play for United, I obviously refused, so I can’t really take it to heart too much. But I’m a bit gutted because I’m a big fan of his."