Nigel Adkins goes viral with ‘quote of the season’ after Tranmere’s win over Mansfield

Nigel Adkins goes viral after coming up with the ‘quote of the season’ after Tranmere’s 2-1 win over Mansfield on Tuesday night.

Tranmere’s unbeaten run continued by beating Mansfield, who currently sit top of League Two, and despite the Stags dominating possession early on, they couldn’t make the most of their chances with Tranmere taking the lead in the 12th minute when Regan Hendry scored from the edge of the area.

Tranmere had opportunities to extend their lead, with Brad Walker’s free-kick saved by Pym and Kieron Morris firing wide from a difficult angle.

But, Mansfield levelled six minutes before the break when Swan capitalised on a through ball from Louis Reed, finding the back of the net past Tranmere’s Luke McGee.

Tranmere were then back in front on the 57th minute when Rob Apter’s shot from 18 yards squeezed past Pym and nestled inside the post.

Now a short video has surfaced and is doing the rounds online of Tranmere boss Nigel Adkins seemingly quoting from the Kung Fu Panda film. He said: “Well, you have to be in the present moment. You can’t send back time. You know the past, history. Future is a mystery. Today’s a gift. That’s why they call.”

Nigel Adkins with the quote of the season 🤣 pic.twitter.com/4IYOzvZkub

— tomhwilliams23 (@tomhwilliams23) March 13, 2024

Fear you aren’t quite acquainted with Nigel Adkins. He would never back away from press conference poetry.pic.twitter.com/zROuxnXR9t

— J #SouthgateOut (@Two_Pradista) March 13, 2024

INTERVIEW IN FULL

Interviewer: Well another night to be so so proud of your team the performance the quality and of course another side you’ve beaten from the top of the league

Nigel: Yeah, as you rightly say, very proud for everybody. I thought the performance was exceptional, wasn’t it? You know, a joy for the supporters to watch, the work rate, the commitment, two things, and then the quality of some of the football was a joy to watch. One of the way they passed, they moved against top, they’re gunna win the league, top of the table. We’ve come here and I thought we did great. And at the very end the fans were right with the players as well because obviously they’ve got big giant Flint’s up there, six foot six. And the keepers boom with the length of the pitch and it’s there and see ourselves through and the referees want them to play until they score, sort of thing. That’s more added time going on and where they’re getting it from. But great credit to the know we started the game ever so well yet again. Regan Hendry, what a goal. I thought he was magnificent first half, absolutely jelled it together, complimented, I must say, with Brad Walker in the middle of the pitch. He compliments each other so well. Cannot eulogise enough about Connor Jennings. Wow. And the industrious work of Harvey Saunders and his pace to get us up there. And obviously Robbie Apter scores the winning goal. I’ve got my book there and he’s had one shot over the bar, another shot over the bar. Next time he goes and scores the winning goal. But Kieron Morris on the other side of it, there was a four and a back four. I mean, Connor Wood, what a display. We look at him in the left back position and obviously Lee O’Connor, Luke’s made a couple of good saves, which was important. And obviously the two centre offs again, Jordan Turnbull of stalwart and Joe Yarney playing alongside him again, two games in a spin, done really, really well. Yet again, the goal. They’ve gone and scored. If it been VAR it was that close, it was probably on. But anyway, that’s for another day, as I said from my point of view. And then at the very end we managed to get Norris and Dennis on up front. So that was something we’re trying to strive towards. But from my point of view, it was togetherness of everybody. The players worked so hard. They’ve come back after an excellent point on the road down at Gillingham against a very tough side. Chris Merry can think maybe he’s a little bit unfortunate. He’s not involved, but obviously I’m mindful. He put so much effort into that game and then to actually. I don’t want to risk anybody. So we’re utilising the squad. Obviously, Brad Walker has gone in there and he complements Regan so well, as I mentioned before, but from my point of view, really happy. We’re now on 47 points. I think since we took over in November, we’d be third in the league. Second most amount of goals scored, third amount wins. So we’ve been consistently. That’s what the message has been. The consistency since November, we’ve been consistently good. And you can see the spirit of the players, you can see the quality of the football they play, you can see the goal scoring opportunities that we go and score or create, and the togetherness with the fans. It was a really entertaining evening tonight.

Interviewer: You drew the crowd in and then when you needed that little bit of extra help at the end, they got even louder and louder and louder for you.

Nigel: That was it. It was great. It was a super evening to be at Prenton Park under lights as well.

Interviewer: There’s always that bit of extra atmosphere. But as you say, we started the game so well and even when they were trying to press you, you were playing through it and you weren’t giving the ball away. There was a real quality. Been a sense of purpose about you all night, I thought.

Nigel: Yeah, we say pass the ball quickly and calmly with a purpose and obviously we can break the lines. We get it wide, we get waves, we counter attack. What a threat we are when we counter attack, changing the play and then good possession of the football again. We’re evolving, we’ve got to keep improving, keep saying to players, we can keep improved, but that’s why we do the de-briefs. We’ll learn the lessons for this one and we’ll move on again and get better and again. It’s just that consistency. And as I said, I think from November, just highlighted there, the players, great credit to them, consistent and then go… great credit to the staff because a lot of people work really hard behind the scenes.

Interviewer: I touched on Connor Wood there. I think he’s sort of epitomised. I think its about 89th a minute and he ran sort of 60 yards from one end of the pitch to the other towards their corner flag to get you out of trouble, if you like, and get the ball in their half.

Nigel: Wasn’t that a joy? As I said, we got players who work hard and they graft and he’s got it and we do the training ground game where we called it waves, where we can get in the opposition to. We’ve got to try and keep it in there. And he just carries us up the pitch. We’ve got to get away from our goal. He carries us up the pitch and he’s got him there and he’s won a foul for us and we can actually take a bit of the sting out the game. So I thought he had a fantastic game.

Interviewer: Regan Hendry, two and two now. And I know, chatting to him, he thinks he should score more goals. He just needs to get that on that magic left foot, doesn’t he?

Nigel: Yeah, but I mean, its all round game, his physicality, he’s knocking people off the ball. He’s put the thunderous tackles in there. That’s what we want as players. So you graft, first of all, you graft, you get organised, you graft. And then the ability, you’ve got to go and get on the ball and pass it and move it. And he’s a joy to watch.

Interviewer: Robbie up into double figures now. He’s got his three or four assists as well, on top of that as well. I mean, that’s a huge achievement for the young man. And it just shows how he’s listened and learned and got better, doesn’t it?

Nigel: Well, he’s part of the team. Love him. The lads love him. But again, I showed a little bit, a little clip on Monday in the debrief where we’re down at Gillingham, and it’s ended up like a bit of a basketball game where it’s end to end and their full back’s gone. He’s attacked, they’ve attacked, we’ve attacked again, and then their full back’s gone marching on, right? And Robbie, he’s grafted like, man, I talk about the ‘beep’ that people don’t see. He grafted to get back for the team. So for me, fantastic. And his ability, he’s a judge, just giving the ball, come on in. But he’s linking with players. You saw some of the industrious football tonight, where we’re linking certain areas of the pitch again, where we’re evolving to so really, really pleased. And, as you say, scored ten. We’ve scored the second most amount of goals now in the league. So we score goals, we create chances and puts smiles on people’s faces.

Interviewer: I know you always look forward to the next game, but you’ve had this great run since you’ve taken over permanently. Is it a bit of what if at this stage of the season and think, I wish I could turn that back the clock and sort of start again.

Nigel: Well, you have to be in the present moment. You can’t turn back time. The past is history, future is a mystery. Today’s a gift. That’s why. So enjoy this moment. Enjoy this moment. Special today, as I say, Robbie’s gone and scored a good winning goal. Regan Hendry scored a fantastic first goal. And the performance from the players team together, everyone achieves more. And that was demonstrated in abundance tonight where we’ve beaten the league leaders who are going to get promoted. And it’s just showed we beat Stockport, who a league leaders here as well. So it just shows how far we’ve come. We’ve got a long way to go.

Interviewer: And just a word about Tom Davis, some other touchline tonight. I mean, how is Tom? How serious is it while he’s out of the moat?

Nigel: Well, he’s out at the moment. He’s got a little bit of an injury which he’s open to joining training on Thursday and we’ll see how he responds with that. But again, Joe Yarney stepped in and done really well alongside Jordan Turnball tonight.

Interviewer: And your birthday yesterday. Did you celebrate yesterday or have been waiting for tonight and now celebrate tomorrow?

Nigel: No, it was a long day yesterday because obviously we’ve debriefed the game from Gillingham and obviously we prepped. We’ve got, like, a lot of players to get the training right, lads, we’ve trained to the recovery training the next bit and then we’ve obviously prepped the game tonight. So the video. So again, big turnaround for Kevin Mulligan as well, Barky. So he’s getting all the video footage, loads of meetings, loads of talking. So I had an early night last night, quiet night, and tonight’s getting ready for this one. And now we’ve got a great game to look forward to. The weekend.

Interviewer: Those are the best birthday presents, I don’t think, tonight as a football manager, isn’t it?

Nigel: Well, it’s nice when the team that you represent, our hometown club, put a performance in like that against the league leaders. So I was really pleased with everybody.

Twitter users reacted as Nigel Adkins goes viral with ‘quote of the season’ after Tranmere’s win over Mansfield…

@ImJamieMartin: Did he just quote Master Oogway?

@Fonzyy97: Listening to this every week after a loss was painful

@RobertTopham7: Why does that feel infectious 😂💪

@natashaeveritt7: Nah tbf his morning videos used to put a spring in my step 🤣

@REDANDWHlTEARMY: What a man tbf 😂 miss his morning videos

@JRFM_CAFC: Don’t change, Nigel, don’t change.

@footyquiznet: Big Live Lough Love vibes from Nige here

@deoxyribo87: Haha one of his favourites

@JS173324: Quoting kung fu panda. He knows the score

@favourite_slav3: Nige is one of the nicest men to walk the earth

@ham_ezz: If he gets us promoted that’s getting tattooed

@IWSaint1: What a guy

@followlch: Today is a gift, that’s why they call it “the present” 🫡

@maemils21: 10/10 reference 😂❤️

@Spring_BIossom: I love this man so much, NA🧡

@alexhands07: No way he’s just quoted Master Oogway’s parting speech

@matt_the_jack: I do like Nigel Adkins

@mattlockrhodes: I was not ready for this.

@tjrin21: Great man tbf 👍

@BradleyDenton7: Adkins is brilliant to listen to when your team is winning, his relentless positivity not so much in defeat 🤣.

@jonadevitt: Going to see that painted in kitchens up and down the country instead of live laugh love.

@scott_trfc: Nigel Adkins is an absolute genius. Give him everything he wants in the summer and we might actually have something to play for this time next year.

Knew I’d heard that before somewhere https://t.co/vJdIk13HSG pic.twitter.com/v6ohaxz8ee

— Gary Taphouse (@garytaphouse) March 13, 2024