What was your reaction when you got the call from Leeds United and can you sum up your emotions?
"I wouldn't be here if I hadn't missed it. It was a shock at this time of the season. There are many managers that have changed hands which is the biggest amount of managers ever in the history of the Premier League. I thought it's all over now for this season so to get the call was quite surprising but it was only a couple of minutes before I said yes.
"Because of the situation we had to rush through the entire process so I could be here for at least a reasonable lead into Man City. I've had a lot of response from many people I know sending their congratulations. A few others said I must be mad.
"I enjoy the game so much. To try and be able to save this club and keep them in the Premier League is a big responsibility and a big challenge, but one I'm prepare to take."
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What has been your key message and is this your biggest challenge?
"It's probably the biggest challenge because of the shortness of games that are left. They need to pick up points and you look at the difficulty of the fixtures. We start with an easy one on Saturday. You can't get any easier than Manchester City away.
"It's a big challenge that the players have to take on, I have to take on, and Karl Robinson has joined me, and today Robbie Keane has joined us.
"I don't know the rest of the staff, but I've got these lads that I've known for a long time, who I trust, and hopefully the rest of the staff take the responsibility on board to produce a better performance on and off the field.
"We'll try and go to Manchester City and do our best to get a result. I can only wait and see what the reaction is when we kick-off on Saturday afternoon.
"I don't think there is too much of a problem with Leeds in possession. But there is a massive problem when they haven't got it because of the amount of goals they've conceded. If we are to stay in the Premier League, they need to stop conceding goals like they've been conceding."
How do you improve Leeds' defensive issues in such a short period of time?
"Breeding a bit more confidence and setting a pattern of play to say this is the way to stop the opposition. If you can do that, you can get more possession, so you can get more opportunities to attack the opposition.
"You get two benefits. The first benefit is to stop the goals going in, and the second is you might get more opportunities to score more goals."
What are your first impressions?
"I've seen quite a positive atttitude. I would've expected them to be a lot more miserable than what they were. Collectively they seem quite good together. They are desperate to do better and that of course needs a bit of support and guidance, and breeding a bit of confidence to help the players build themselves up for the game on Saturday and give that little bit more.
"Technically and tactically we haven't got into that too much. That will happen in the next couple of days. As a new manager, you expect that little bit more from the players than had happened before.
"It goes along with the territory that you get a new manager and they seem to lift the performance because it's a new manager, not that the manager has done anything really brilliant.
"If a manager tells you he has, then he's lying to you. They come in thinking they need to impress my manager to keep playing. And of course Manchester City will make them give that bit more because they don't want to embarrass themselves."
What qualities will Robbie Keane bring?
"Trying to shut him up in the first place, he never stops talking. I've known Robbie for quite a while and we've talked on many occasions about getting into coaching.
"I've worked him at Soccer Aid a few times and I really liked his personality. It's in my mind to give everybody a lift not just by his coaching methods for the frontmen particularly, and the striker because goals are very important.
"But also the fact that he is Leeds through and through. He loves the place."
Are you purely in charge for the next four matches, or would you reconsider extending your stay?
"Never say never. It depends what happens at the end of the four matches and what the conversation is all about. And how I feel, and more importantly how the wife feels."
Did you always feel like you'd return to a Premier League club?
"The club would always make the difference on whether I took it or not. I've always known the history of the club and it's always been a pleasure to play at Elland Road. When you get the opportunity to manage them then you jump at the chance."
Will Sammy Lee be a big miss to your coaching staff?
"Not with Karl [Robinson]. But I do have to say the judge has left Sammy unemployed because he is on jury service and wouldn't let him off. I find that to be very poor judgement indeed.
"It's a real shame because he loves being with me and I love him being with me. But I've known Karl since my Blackburn days and I've always kept in touch with him since he left.
"When we were both managers, we'd talk about the good, the bad and the ugly. I've always been there to help if I possibly can. So when Sammy became a no, and everything had to move very quickly.
"Karl came here in half an hour, and I rang Robbie this morning and he's here already with his bags packed."
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What are the strengths of the squad you inherit?
"I don't really know until I get to the end of today and into tomorrow. Apart from the fact that they are comfortable in possession, seem to be able to handle the ball in attack, but in recent probably one of the worst defensive records in the Premier League over the past 10 games.
"My call to those players is to be able to be more adaptable. Maybe that was not the previous manager's way of working, who knows, maybe he had one way of playing, and only wanted to play that way.
"I have to try and form a pattern of play for each game to help the players win, and that can't be by playing the same way every game. Because not every team play against you the same way.
"So if you think when your struggling, you can get away with playing the same way every week. That's why I've saved so many football clubs because the adaptability of the team has allowed them to achieve results."
How are your feeling about such a big game against Manchester City?
I wish it was a little bit less challenging but we have to face what we have to face. I looked at the fixtures and thought they could've been a bit kinder but if we are to stay up, you have to create a shock in the Premier League.
So hopefully we can shock a few people in the Premier League to stay up. I hope we can find six points from four because that would be a really good achievement."
Have you ever come close to joining Leeds previously?
"In the highlight of this year when they've had their troubles, they've always known where I am but it's never materialised until now.
"The football club chooses which way it wants to go and far too many people think I'm old and antiquated which is far from the truth. I might be 68 and look old but there's nobody ahead of me in football terms.
"Not Pep, not Klopp, not Arteta. It's all there with me. They do what they do, I do what I do. In terms of knowledge and depth of knowledge, I'm up there with them. I'm not saying I'm better than them but I'm certainly up there with them.
"I just wish that sometimes that you can get the opportunity to show it but that's never going to happen for me now apart from keep Leeds up.
"If I stayed at Leeds, this club is big enough to build a team that would challenge those boys eventually. But that's a long story away."
Can your methods take hold in four games or do you have to operate differently?
"It all depends on the intelligence of the player and how good his memory is because there's enough, and there's not enough, so I've got to hit the middle perspective.
"If I start changing all the free-kicks, and all the corners, and all the systems then that would just create more confusion."
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