#Brighton boss Graham Potter relishing Premier League challenge after nomadic career"

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Brighton boss Graham Potter relishing Premier League challenge after nomadic career

Graham Potter is preparing for his first season as manager of Premier League knowing that much of what he will not work.

If that seems to be saying something strange, it feels less so when the new Brighton head coach explains it.

Potter is only 44 and this is his first Premier League job. He spent most of his coaching career coaching students and working in Sweden .

But what is missing in top flight experience that he might make up for in the originality of thinking. To that end, when he followed a Masters in leadership and emotional intelligence almost 10 years ago, he came across a principle that underpins his work.

Graham Potter has a unique view of the game and prepares to tackle mistakes

The Brighton boss insists that his players don't play with being allowed to play fear in the Premier League

& # 39; Football is a foul game & # 39 ;, explains Po tter out. "You play 90 minutes and the score is only 1-0, so by definition you can see that things have not always worked well.

" But football tends towards a guilt and fear culture and I don't want that . I met boys in my medical and military education and they recognized that fear was not about making mistakes, it was about knowing they could come and responding positively to them if they did. That resonated for me. Fear means that you cannot be yourself.

& # 39; For example, errors would occur during surgery and how the surgeon would respond to that error would determine life and death.

& # 39; If anyone can tell me how I can eliminate football mistakes. I'm all ears. But my experience suggests that there will be bumps in the road. "

Potter and assistant head coach Billy Reid knows that the task ahead of him is a difficult task

Listening to a Potter talk was a reminder of a conversation with Eddie Howe a year earlier, and the Bournemouth manager explained that he much of his early career played very anxiously to make a mistake because of the reaction of his coaches and senior teammates.

"The last thing you want are frightened players," Potter nods. & # 39; I would not want to add to the external pressure that already exists in an environment as the Premier League. You want them to be confident enough to make their own decisions on the field within a certain reference.

"The culture that you mention with regard to Eddie was something that I experienced, yes. Listen, you can be relaxed. So there is a nice line.

& # 39; But fear can eat you and it prevents you from being on the field and that is not good. & # 39;

One of the most daunting moments of last season came after Brighton lost a one-sided FA Cup semi-final to Manchester City by the single goal. Manager Chris Hughton seemed satisfied that his team had not turned around and felt wrong.

The work of Hughton in Brighton – promotion and two years in the Premier League – was great so when he was fired at the end of the previous season, flavor it. But chairman Tony Bloom and technical director Dan Ashworth wanted a more progressive style of football. Potter was hired from Swansea to deliver it.

Last season, Potter Swansea managed and helped develop the will of Daniel James

& # 39; You have I recognize and respect the good work done here & # 39 ;, Potter emphasizes. & # 39; But like any coach, I will try to improve what happened last year. We will try to improve our offensive game while continuing the defensive work that has been so effective. & # 39;

Potter & # 39; s c.v. It is not conventional and that makes it interesting. A workday went back to teams such as Birmingham, Stoke, Southampton and West Brom, he stopped at the age of 30 and spent coaching time at universities in Hull and Leeds before joining Ostersunds FK of Sweden's fourth division in seven seasons to the Europa League brought. Last year was spent in Swansea, where the club finished 10th in the championship.

Is your appointment a risk to Brighton? "There are no certainties in this game, so I can't really answer that," he says. "I can only look at what I have done to get here. Since the age of 30 I have trained myself to try to improve.

"I have taken the next natural step every time and that mentality has brought me here and it is going to be exciting. Everything went well. But it's that time of year when no one has played a game yet, so everyone is happy, isn't it? & # 39;

Potter is not a natural leader. In his early days he found it difficult to stand in front of a group. Don I don't like the sound of my own voice & # 39 ;, he explains. "People assume it is natural for us. That's not it. & # 39;

But he has always had the courage to follow his instinct. While reading a tabloid newspaper as a player in Southampton, he felt that his mind was getting lazy. Soon, to the amusement of friends in the team bus, he had exchanged it for a book about American politics.

Likewise, he believes that the day he decided to retire was the most important of his career.

Potter led Swansea to 10th place and made the South Wales team pass-masters

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& # 39; It was probably the most powerful moment of my life he said. I could have continued. But I could see where it went.

"I did not want to be the man who would fire someone because I did not apply myself correctly. Instead of the game kicking me out, I wanted to be proactive. I didn't have enough money to just sit in the bank, so I had to figure out what to do. Most players play as long as possible and then perhaps coach at that club.

I thought that that did not necessarily lead to better coaches, because it meant that everyone would continue to do what had always been done. I had to get out and develop in a different way. It could have been madness, but it worked out well. & # 39;

Ostersund is marketed by the Swedes and with good reason. Potter and his wife Rachel moved there with their 11-month-old son in 2010. Later, Rachel told her husband that she cried every day for weeks.

"The family is the hardest part of moving," says Potter. "You know you have to make it work, because that's why you are here. But what is your family at home when you are working? The club had fired the manager every year for years before there was pressure on me to succeed.

& # 39; The way to make it work was to do scouting through Sweden, but that meant I had to leave my wife home with an 11-month-old child when it is at least 25 outside.

Potter made a name for himself in Ostersunds, them of the fourth leading division to Europe

She made a few reconnaissance trips with me. I showed her the sights of northern Sweden on a Sunday afternoon and she was happy with those … trees. And more trees. & # 39;

Potter and Rachel had traveled to Ostersund a year earlier to discuss a job at the club's academy. With a population of around 50,000, it is the 22nd largest city in Sweden and the day they visited was a holiday. "Everyone had gone to the mountains, so it was like a ghost town," he laughs. "It felt a bit too much then. It was a northern Swedish summer day – around 10 degrees – and we just felt so far away from everything. & # 39;

Despite this, when the head coach's job came up 12 months later, Rachel agreed to leave and leave behind a Pilates company she had 10 years growing up.

Potter & # 39; s success was astonishing. He took the club through the divisions, won the Swedish Cup and debuted in the Europa League, where they defeated Arsenal 2-1 in London in 2018. His family's sacrifices were appreciated. Fans of Ostersunds held up a banner with the text & # 39; Thanks Rachel & # 39; during a competition and also wrote her a letter.

& # 39; We now look back and we both say that this was the best thing we have ever done professionally, & # 39; he says. "And it really was something we had to do. Regular football would not be interested in a coach who works in higher education. In the beginning it was tough, but actually worse when we came back. It was quite traumatic for the family to leave Ostersund.

While managing the Swedish side Potter took over the Arsenal from Arsene Wenger and won in London

& # 39; My oldest son was struggling. When you are eight, you miss your friends and you don't understand why we should be in Swansea and not back in Ostersund. Then he had just settled in Wales and found friends and now he had to move again. I hope he can forgive me. & # 39;

With Dad now a Premier League manager, life will be different for the Potter family. Born in Solihull, Potter seems to be a real, smart man. He is a bit different and we must embrace that and hope that the Premier League does not change him too much.

"I'm looking forward to the challenge and luckily I'm at a really good club," he says. "The people here are brilliant. The club has values. I also have a good family that I will listen to when things get a little crazy. I can use their support.

"I have been playing football since I was 17 years old. I know what the game is like and the Premier League is the next thing I suppose. I have experienced it a bit as a player, although it has escalated since those days. But I can only be myself. That is the most important. If that's not good enough or what people want, that's fine. I'll just try to be myself. & # 39;

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