Motivation Quote by Alan Hansen

Hansen’s line is doing two jobs at once: praising the obsessive, almost monastic commitment of elite footballers while quietly setting a standard that doubles as a critique. “Live and breathe” is the familiar sports cliché, but he uses it like a litmus test. Not everyone in the dressing room qualifies. The sentence draws a bright line between players who treat football as identity and players who treat it as employment.

The key phrase is “get something out of.” It’s not about being told to show up, or grinding through drills because the contract says so. Hansen is describing an internal reward loop: the best players don’t just endure repetition; they crave it. That subtext carries a cultural argument about professionalism in modern football, especially from someone who came up in an era where training was less monitored, less branded, and often less forgiving. It’s nostalgia, but not sentimental nostalgia - more like an old pro’s suspicion that talent without appetite is a fragile thing.

“Going to the training ground every day” also demystifies greatness. No talk of destiny, no highlight reels, just the daily commute to improvement. The intent is motivational on the surface, but the real point is evaluative: if you’re not hungry for the routine, you won’t survive the pressure, the scrutiny, or the marginal gains arms race that defines top-level football. Hansen isn’t romanticizing work ethic; he’s naming the psychological engine that separates the merely gifted from the relentlessly good.