[Albion] Potter - emotional intelligence:

[Pavilionaire]

Robbie Keane. Sublime instinctive striker (remember that one against us in the FA cup at WHL, when Carpenter scored a free kick I think?). Give him time to think and he buggered it up. If any of his many coaches had the sense to mind train him into Jedi he'd have been an insanely successful footballer, instead of one that was sold on every few months.

What are you talking about?! Robbie Keane scored 68 international goals for Ireland, that blows Rooney, Charlton and Lineker out of the water. This includes scoring at least 1 international goal every year FOR 19 CONSECUTIVE YEARS. He'll never have to buy a pint in Ireland ever again.

The bloke scored 393 career goals and was a success at Wolves, Cov, Leeds, Spurs, Celtic, LA Galaxy. I'm just gutted he never played for the Albion.

 

[Barnet Seagull]

Thank you very much for this excellent thread everyone.
Particularly you, Happy Exile, because this comment; ‘This might sound relatively trite to some but even talking about it before it happens can help prevent catastrophising about something’ was worth the read alone for me. Something I will be using I suspect.
Truly NSC at its best because you won’t see this sort of discussion on many fan’s forums. (If only because they haven’t got GP as manager).
Thanks again.

That reminded me of a talk I attended with Sir Clive Woodward. He talks of a t-cup approach. Thinking Correctly Under Pressure. This is all about being mentally prepared for what might happen. For Clive this meant wargaming in-match scenarios and the whole team being clear on what was expected should one of those events occur in game (e.g. Sin bin, tied in last minute etc.) I hadn't really ever interpreted it as also being applicable to the individual but it absolutely is. All part of building mental resilience.

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

[MENTION=38333]Swansman[/MENTION] must be genuflecting in the privacy of mum's basement over the idiot content of this thread

 

[Marshy]

Robbie Keane. Sublime instinctive striker (remember that one against us in the FA cup at WHL, when Carpenter scored a free kick I think?). Give him time to think and he buggered it up. If any of his many coaches had the sense to mind train him into Jedi he'd have been an insanely successful footballer, instead of one that was sold on every few months.

haha its a actually a struggle to think of many more successful strikers than Keane, he was a tuck machine.

 

[Harry Wilson's tackle]

This is a fantastic point that shouldn't be overlooked. He'll have someone who he turns to and vents and bounces ideas off, I don't know who that person is but they will be a big part of Potter's success, and therefore the club's. He'd go mad without whoever that person is - it might be as simple as the club psychologist or a therapist but I'd bet he does a couple of hours a week with someone just speaking and being heard without having to filter it or have it interpreted or taken as anything other than thinking out loud.

I think we probably all need that.....luckily I find it very easy to vent, myself,

 

[Harry Wilson's tackle]

What are you talking about?! Robbie Keane scored 68 international goals for Ireland, that blows Rooney, Charlton and Lineker out of the water. This includes scoring at least 1 international goal every year FOR 19 CONSECUTIVE YEARS. He'll never have to buy a pint in Ireland ever again.

The bloke scored 393 career goals and was a success at Wolves, Cov, Leeds, Spurs, Celtic, LA Galaxy. I'm just gutted he never played for the Albion.

My point stands. If he'd not missed so many sitters he wouldn't have gone on the transfer merry go round.

 

[Harry Wilson's tackle]

haha its a actually a struggle to think of many more successful strikers than Keane, he was a tuck machine.

But he could have been sooooo much better

 

[Brovion]

Very interesting discussion. Makes me wonder about the management styles of other past Brighton managers and their style with respect to their success or failure. If the accounts from past players such as Brian Powney during the reign of Clough and Taylor, Spencer Vignes book "Bloody Southerners", are true, their style would seem to fall into the Mourinho and autocratic rule by fear camp. It makes you wonder how they achieved such success. Also, I believe, Mourinho, was heavilly infulenced by Bobby Robson in Portugal who seems a competely different style of manager.

I think in the 'old days' not only would EI have been seen on a par with Glenn Hoddle's 'Mystic Meg' spiritual assistant, but the relationship between manager and players was different. It was more a traditional employer/employee relationship. The players needed their jobs, you weren't set for life after a few years in the game, and thus they could be ordered, controlled, even threatened, in a way that would be impossible today. I remember the huge change when Freedom of Contract came in and players could leave 'on a Bosman' (Remember that expression?). Now with players salaries reckoned in millions the old ways don't work any more, I doubt an unreconstructed Brian Clough for example would be a success in the modern game. Now in order to get the best out of a group of young millionaires you need a different angle other than threatening to drop them and stick them on the transfer list. Potter seems to have have one.

DISCLAIMER - The above may be total bollocks. I'm a software developer and have no qualifications, skill or expertise in this field whatsoever!

 

[Justice]

My point stands. If he'd not missed so many sitters he wouldn't have gone on the transfer merry go round.

He was at Spurs for eight years a move to Liverpool for two seasons, with a loan to Celtic in his twilight years.

 

[SIMMO SAYS]

He only ever moos

No I don't

 

[Swansman]

[MENTION=38333]Swansman[/MENTION] must be genuflecting in the privacy of mum's basement over the idiot content of this thread

Leave your mum out of this

 

[Mental Lental]

It's not often I read a thread on NSC and think I can actually offer anything more meaningful than a pitiful attempt at humour but this aligns a bit with what I do for a living. In a way I still find bizarre and with enormous imposter syndrome, (and this is impossible to talk about without sounding like it's an outtake from Twenty Twelve) part of what I get paid for is helping people in the corporate world develop emotional intelligence and use neuroscience and psychology to perform better - a lot of what I bring in to what I do is from sport but also the arts because cinema (for example) is amazing for all this too.

I could geek about it for DAYS but instead what I'll point out is the entirely obvious and that one of the key attributes of successful leadership is role-modelling of the behaviours you want to see in others. Combine that with emotional intelligence to bring the best out of people and consciously adapt to meet them where they need you rather than where you need them and it's basically a super-power. Read anything about Fergie at United and this was him too.

Like Fergie at United, Potter's been given time which is essential for it to work. So if we think about what behaviours Potter is role-modelling in public, and how that's going to be amplified massively in private with the players, you can also see how that now comes through them too in the way they play and talk and perform. It's in Potter's interviews too - he wants them to develop personally as well as professionally, he sees football as a means to players becoming better people too etc etc. Watching Potter is like a textbook in emotional intelligence training brought to glorious life - he'll be doing most of it innately I reckon, because he seems like a very decent bloke who just "gets" people, but the academic side he's got will absolutely give the confidence and evidence-base to press on when things are looking less pleasant if he's doubting himself.

There's masses and masses in emotional intelligence work about how you create a culture of trust in a team and you can see that in his work, and that rounded development of people and the seeing them as "more than their jobs" that Potter does is a huge part of it. You can see that trust then come through on the pitch. Want to play March or whoever out of position? That's the consequence of 12 months working on them as a full human being to build their trust in your judgement as well as their own judgement as much as it's working on them tactically as a player. Another biiiiiiiig part of that is constantly demonstrating you have someone's best interests at heart. So if you're an Albion player and working with Potter is helping you be a better husband / father / human and you can see how it's setting you up for life after the game too you're going to love him and trust him more than anything. It's no wonder they look such a happy bunch. It's not just the players Potter will be influencing and even working with either, it'll be the whole set up at the club he'll be driving, because if the security guy is happy, positive and focused on the same things as Trossard that actually makes a difference. Southgate, for whatever his faults, has done an amazing emotional intelligence job with England and knowing a bit about how he's used psychologists and organisation design specialists to map all the player touch-points (God, I hate corporate speak) it's similar to Brighton and Potter - everyone an England player encounters at any point in their time with the England team has the same ethos, attitude, values, approach, and common language talking about things (e.g. it's never "we'll try" unless by mistake, it's always "we will"...they never "understand" because that's hard to measure, they "demonstrate they can" etc etc). It's small things, but Southgate attributed some of the success in Russia with these changes and the fact the people who serve up food in the canteen are part of a whole experience for everyone that reinforces an attitude and approach.

The "us against the world" team building of Mourinho has a limited shelf-life for trust which is why he always falls apart spectacularly. I love watching Tuchel constantly blaming things outside of his control too because it's going to implode massively soon (people who constantly feel they have no autonomy over their outcomes, as the Chelsea team will be feeling because it's never their fault, never sustain any kind of success - you can't be permanently angry and feeling powerless and if you're unaccountable for failure your brain will automatically cap how accountable you feel you can be for success...they might still win stuff, but not as much as they could have). I know Howe isn't popular but I reckon he's probably pretty good on EI. Moyes too. Klopp will be great at it. I suspect Arteta is rubbish. Lampard won't be good because he seems to have too much of an ego and victim complex, Gerrard though - like Guardiola - isn't worried about a bit of vulnerability occasionally so I think is probably good too. Rogers I reckon has read all the books and is good at applying it but doesn't have it innately so it'll always be management theory and not "lived".

Anyway. I'm geeking FOR DAYS if I don't stop now. It'll be a sad day when Potter goes, but again, if you listen to him he talks about how Bloom and Barber role-model behaviours (Barber's legendary accessibility to us randoms for example is amazing role-modelling of wanting to ensure we all feel valued even if we disagree about something - everyone feeling valued being a core of emotional intelligence) so we can be sure whoever the next manager is will be a continuation on a theme and style, and that can only be a good thing. From the bit of research I've done into it for work I think Liverpool are the closest Premier League club to us in that style of operating where emotional intelligence and "whole player" work is the norm, that's why I tipped Potter to be Klopp's successor unless he goes straight to the England manager job. I think he could walk into either and not have a big cultural rebuilding job and that'd suit Potter and either Liverpool or England a lot.

The only other thing I'll say, and I can do this with absolute authority on the topic, is that I wish I had Potter's beard.

It's rare to see a post get up to 45 likes on NSC. This post deserves it.

 

[Machiavelli]

That's a really good point. I think we can say he's human and it'll happen. But also I've just watched the video and he was asked what he'd like to say to the fans who booed. He's clearly annoyed, but he doesn't let himself down at all. Firstly he doesn't say anything that's unfair or untrue, but he also validates the booing people - "they are entitled to their opinion but I completely disagree with them..." then he explains why, suggesting they don't understand what it is the team is trying to do, then he internalises it "maybe I need a history lesson..."

Clearly the media then had a field day, he held up the support away as a positive example, but as far as I can tell he doesn't criticise anyone, and it's targeted specifically at the fans who booed. I think he's quite careful even while being annoyed - if we, as fans, choose to see it as a dig at us whether we booed or not it's our call.

Is it EI to start every response to a question with: 'great question'?

 

[Harry Wilson's tackle]

He was at Spurs for eight years a move to Liverpool for two seasons, with a loan to Celtic in his twilight years.

Alright, I may have overbaked that one. A bit. But look at his stats versus those of Kane.





All you need to do to convert a bit of a disappointment into a super star is remove an e

Edit and take the LA Galaxy bollox off the Keane goal tally and it's roughly 179 goals from 461 games - heading in the Richie Barker direction

 

[Weststander]

He improves players in every facet. Very few players fail to grab that wonderful opportunity, possibly due to a lack of ability to start with.

A rare gift.

It must be great to work with him.

What a great spot by whoever first targeted him to join the Albion.



Whilst other clubs frantically spend vast sums in a nonstop revolving door of players in and out, buying the next best thing - Everton, Fulham, Spuds, Chelsea and Arsenal. Occasionally getting lucky with a team that can put some wins together. Until it goes tits up, left with lemons on huge contracts.

 

[Pavilionaire]

Alright, I may have overbaked that one. A bit. But look at his stats versus those of Kane.

View attachment 151120

View attachment 151121

All you need to do to convert a bit of a disappointment into a super star is remove an e

Edit and take the LA Galaxy bollox off the Keane goal tally and it's roughly 179 goals from 461 games - heading in the Richie Barker direction

So now you're saying Keane isn't all that because his stats aren't quite as good as a player who is a slam dunk to be Tottenham and England's record-all time goalscorer?!

Keep digging.

 

[Harry Wilson's tackle]

So now you're saying Keane isn't all that because his stats aren't quite as good as a player who is a slam dunk to be Tottenham and England's record-all time goalscorer?!

Keep digging.

OK.

His goal celebration is rubbish.

https://www.bing.com/videos/search?...88F7DE7CF880A07C3EA588F7DE7CF880A07&FORM=VIRE

 

[Silverhatch]

Deeply impressive bloke.

 

[Pavilionaire]

OK.

His goal celebration is rubbish.

https://www.bing.com/videos/search?...88F7DE7CF880A07C3EA588F7DE7CF880A07&FORM=VIRE

Nice goal. He had all the time in the world to make his run and managed to tuck it away without shitting his pants, so something of a collector's item.

 

[Stat Brother]

Deeply impressive bloke.

There's no place for such brevity on this thread.