Believe me, I look back on West Ham in a good way.
— Sam Allardyce
Too many times I have had to sacrifice a trophy or the chance of winning one because the owners have said you have to stay in the Premier League at all costs.
My dad was a pretty social animal when he wasn't working.
My dad would be down at the social club and my mum would be looking after us. Their time out together was limited to birthdays and, particularly being Scottish, to Hogmanay and Christmas.
From an early stage in my career, if you're talking about picking up knowledge, it would have been via Ian Greaves who was involved in my success as a young player at Bolton. And working under managers such as Bobby Gould and George Graham helped me to expand my knowledge at bit more.
For the record, I've never taken a bung in my life. I might have enjoyed a meal or a bottle of wine on an agent or two but that is it. I was earning £1.5m a year, so I didn't need a little bit extra from an agent. It would have been madness.
Your cruciate ligament, like many long-term injuries... when they come back they're expected to be what they were before the injury. While fit it sometimes takes a little bit longer for some than others.
Busquets is a sitting midfield player who breaks up play, intercepts, passes it very quickly and is intelligent. That's what he is. He's not much more than that, but he gets a lot of praise for it. Whereas Eric Dier does a similar job, but sometimes gets loads of criticism for it.
Have transfer prices in England surprised me? No. Are the prices over-inflated? Yes. But there is no surprise now.
It's never just about talent, it's about a lot more than that.
You have to try to win the ball at all costs and if someone doesn't get it quite right people get injured.
No matter what people say outside of football, we don't work for money, we work for the love of the game and the money is something that follows.
If I got sacked because my results weren't good enough at Everton, I accept it, but getting sacked when they finish eighth, it is ridiculous. In fact, it is ludicrous.
Everybody walks around talking about, 'Sam Allardyce's style is not good enough, he doesn't play the right way' and so on and so forth and it is a massive problem for me. People believe it. You believe the false lies, the false implications. Football does that - it believes that lie sometimes.
I've always thought Everton was a great club.
My parents are from Scotland and my sister and brother were both born in Scotland so my heritage is from there.
We live in a world that builds people's expectations so high, so when the downside comes there is a knee-jerk reaction.
The satisfaction for me is that when you leave somewhere you look at what you are leaving and I know I left West Ham in great shape.
To say we have to play a certain way, or try to, every game is great in theory, but depending what players you have got you have to play to their strengths and cover up their weaknesses.
Mum wasn't scared of dad but I'm sure she got fed up with him taking her for granted... When I look back it was an empty relationship but I doubt there was ever a question of them splitting up. It wasn't the done thing.
As much as I liked Wolves as a boy and it was a childhood dream to play and perhaps manage for the club, I've come to Bolton and this is where I want to stay.
Historically almost every team I've managed has returned from even just a five-day break with improved physical output.
It's extremely depressing that a country of this magnitude, and where it thinks it lies in itself, can allow so many foodbanks to be operating in this country.
As a manager, you look at who is going to get the fans on the edge of the seats.
It's always a good time to play against a team when they come back from Europe, whether it's the Europa League or Champions League.
My time at Bolton was fantastic. I didn't want to go. It's a fantastic stadium with fantastic fans, but I want to disappoint them.
There's only a certain amount of times you can tell somebody what they should or shouldn't be doing. If they don't want to take it on board there's little you can do.
Arsene has most of the media in his pocket now and is almost - almost - affecting the officials so that you can't tackle an Arsenal player. That's something he's very clever at working on and it's almost working in his favour, you can see that.
When does every fan like the manager?
It is about trying to entertain and win, that is the ultimate, but you have to keep winning first to change the things that need to change.
When will the first manager manage at a professional level having learned his trade on 'FIFA 16,' '17,' or '18?' I've watched my grandson on it, I've watched him buy players and sell them to get to the top of the league and it's teaching him how to manage. The knowledge base that they build up would be very interesting down the line.
I think accepting an instruction is part of a player's responsibility.
You cannot just force 'the only way to play is this way' in this country.
My main aim is to finish as high up the top of the Premier League as possible. I have the ability to help teams survive.
I had four great years at West Ham. People will always refer to the difficulties at certain times, but you get those everywhere.
Whoever you are playing and whatever you are playing against you have to weigh up tactically how you approach that game. That has always been a part of my make-up, having made my way through every division and finding out what management is all about.
It's difficult in your life when both parents pass so quickly and you're not really that old when they move on. There is a big gap in your life. There's a hole. You learn to live with it but never forget it.
As the game changes you have to change with it.
If a player digests his own statistical information in his own time, on his own laptop, tablet or whatever, without a coach standing over him, it makes it easier for him. It helps with the pressure. There's a fear factor but spending time at home analysing things can help control it.
I'm not suited to Bolton or Blackburn, I would be more suited to Inter or Real Madrid. It wouldn't be a problem to me to go and manage those clubs because I would win the double or the league every time. Give me Manchester United or Chelsea and I would do the same, it wouldn't be a problem.
Busquets has been a great player for Spain and Barcelona, don't get me wrong. He's a very effective player and is the first pick for every manager because he plays such a simple game. But we laud him as a genius, whereas our own we don't, we criticise.
Expectation builds the one thing you must have when you get to a new stadium when it's built, which is a winning team.
I want my team to win.
Most young talented players I worked with over many, many years who I've met later have said, 'Oh, I wish I'd listened to you.' When you meet them later in life they regret not taking the opportunity with the talent they had.
Any football club that is any good is down to the manager more than anything else.
One of my best friendships dwindled in the pub business - we still talk, but it challenged that friendship too much - and that taught me to go into football and find people that I can have good relations with but without being overly friendly.
The type of football I played at Everton, the fans said it wasn't good enough and I would say the same - I knew it wasn't good enough for Everton - but I knew I had to get them in the position where they were safe.
Ambition is important for any manager or coach, owner or director.
When you hit that safe 40-point mark it's very easy for a player to think about his holidays and actually switch off.
Teams with limited budgets will always find times tough and results won't always go your way.
