Recent content by JohanCruyff14

One of the hardest things in the world of management is re-writing the story you tell your players. Essentially, you're telling the players you believe in the system but not in their ability to pull it off effectively. On the one hand, we were three games into the proper implementation of the...

I'd hardly slept a wink. It wasn't really nerves as I don't get them, just pure excitement. All the exhaustive training, all the hours spent making selection decisions then re-questioning them in my mind. Yet it would all come down to this, finally. The opening day. When you think of the...

My first pre-season. No tour of America or China to sell our "brand", no warm weather training, no time spent using hours and hours of analysis as we didn't have the resources to get that data. Instead, 4 games. We'd play Winchester, Dunstable, Burton Albion and Welwyn Garden City, all at home...

I mentioned earlier that Bielsa, Guardiola, Cruyff - my three heroes in the game - had it a lot simpler than me in the sense that they had that playing career to hark back to and gained respect for that from the off, wherever they went. Even those players that played at a lower level got at...

I jumped off of the train and straight into a taxi. A bit of small talk with the driver and getting a quick summary of the town from him. He guessed, by the destination, that I was going for the job. I asked him what he knew about the club and he gave me two insights. "One: the players are...

I got home from work and again checked the letters on the side. Albion Rovers of the Scottish Third Division. Rejected due to a lack of experience. Warrenpoint Town of Northern Ireland. Rejected due to a lack of experience. Oxford City of the English 6th Division South. Rejected due to a lack...

*BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP* What, it's time to get up already?! I laid my head back on my pillow. The 5:30 alarm. The worst way to start a Monday. Still feeling rough from Saturday night. What a night that was but Christ, I'm paying for it now. These weekends seem to be shorter...

I'd been up all night. Wriggling, tossing, turning - receiving the odd elbow to the ribs after a night of driving the wife crazy in bed. I went downstairs at 4:30am, made myself a cup of tea and read over my plans time and time again. Checked my bag was full of everything I needed. Checked it...

I woke up in a hotel with a superb sight of the Tower Of London. I'd been up all night, clinching deals until the early hours of the morning. The maid knocked on the door and feebly shouted 'Housekeeping!'. I ignored her and turned over to look at my phone. 11:33am. I haven't slept until that...

I'd sat down and reviewed each player from footage of last season. I'd seen where they needed to improve,where they were strong and where we lacked depth after the departures of Taylor, Bartley and Wood. My next task was to meet with Victor Orta, the Director of Football here. Victor told me...

If there's two words that footballers universally hate, it's pre-season. I hated it. My fellow pro's hated it.It's that first day back, more than anything. Sweating off the junk food you've treated yourself to all Summer. Learning to re-hydrate yourself again. The endless squats, press ups and...

The media these days are a **** of a lot worse than back in my era. Everything is over-analysed and pushed on so today's players give interviews that are incredibly club led,dry and devoid of personality. The top managers know how to use the media effectively and most importantly, think like the...

As soon as I heard that Garry Monk was leaving, I was straight in there. I pushed the agency to find out why Monk had left – the last thing the club needed was another cretinous owner – and they told me that Steve Gibson at Middlesbrough had offered him more money and a much larger transfer...

Home. What is home? As a footballer,you're never guaranteed of a home for life if you want it, like your average 9-5 worker is. You rarely get to spend a full week in the same place every evening. European nights, midweek fixtures, away games that take hours to travel to. It's hard to find a...

I sat in the Reception area. A text came through from the manager of the agency. “I don't need to wish you good luck – you're a success, a born winner, you have great pedigree and a great history. You'll nail this mate.” It raised a smile and gave me a chill up my spine; I would smash this...