Motivation Quote by Ron Atkinson

There’s a particular kind of football bravado that doesn’t strut; it sidles in. “I’ve had this sneaking feeling throughout the game that it’s there to be won” captures Ron Atkinson at his most persuasive: confidence framed as intuition, ambition disguised as a hunch. “Sneaking” is the tell. It suggests something half-formed and slightly illicit, as if believing you can win is itself a risk - tempting fate, challenging the script the match seems to be writing.

The line works because it treats victory not as a thunderclap but as an opening you notice if you’re paying attention. It’s managerial vision translated into everyday language: while others see a stalemate, Atkinson is scanning for small signals - a tiring fullback, a midfield losing second balls, an opponent protecting a lead instead of hunting a second. “Throughout the game” implies this isn’t post-match mythmaking; it’s a sustained read of momentum, the sense that control can be seized rather than begged for.

Subtextually, it’s also a message to players: you’re not clinging on, you’re in this. Coaches sell belief as much as tactics, and Atkinson’s phrasing makes belief feel earned, almost evidence-based, without sounding like a lecture. In the culture of English football, where fatalism can be as common as optimism, that “there to be won” flips the emotional default. The match stops being something that happens to you and becomes something you can take.