"We know we're going to be a in a dogfight this year and we're just getting the points on the board early on. That's not me playing it down, that's just the way we see it. We have to give 100% maximum effort every week to get a result, and it showed at Charlton we didn't do that as we got beat, so it's a big effort for us to win a game."
"The start is better than we expected, there's no doubt about that. We've gone into every game this season, including Chelsea, trying to win it, and so far so good. We know it's going to be a long tough winter, but we're sixteen points nearer our goal."
"Missing Lee [McCulloch] for three games is going to hurt us, but that's life. It was a silly tackle. I thought it was a definite booking, but to send him off was a bit questionable. It's a silly foul and the lad was never going to be injured."
And with regards to their "goal"?
"They won't moan about the push Shearer made to get to ball will they? If Graeme looks at the video, he'll see that Shearer pushes De Zeeuw so it's debatable whether it's over the line anyway. If it's over the line, then they'll be disappointed, but De Zeeuw told me he was pushed, and even Shearer said that on the pitch."