"I think discipline was everything to him. He was not afraid of criticising you in front of the rest of the team. If he was giving a talk and somebody had given away a goal he would totally embarrass them in front of the rest of the team so you knew what was there if you didn't do what he wanted."
Alan Ball: "Alf was an intensely loyal man. If you put in the effort for him on the pitch he would pick you. When we were doing it right we always said it was harder to get out of his team than to get in it. But nobody took anything for granted. After one midweek international, Martin Peters said, 'Bye Alf, see you next time'. To which Alf replied, 'You might'."
Bobby Charlton

"We had some tremendous individual players and we all had one thing in common - Sir Alf Ramsey. It's easy to spot players who have ability. What's not so straightforward is realising which personalities will combine well to form a strong team. That was Alf's strength."
Geoff Hurst