England announced a while back that we’ll be taking Liverpool’s Sports Psychologist Dr Steve Peters to the World Cup (8 years too late & faith healers need not apply!), and it struck me, why haven’t all football clubs got one by proxy?, especially our club who historically flatter to deceive and crumble at the final hurdle when it matters. Liverpool seem to be getting the edge when it matters (might be a bridge to far for England though).
Surprisingly, it appears Rotherham United do have them (qualified in some capacity), in the Academy, but as far as I know at senior level our only ‘psychologists’ are good cop / bad cop Steve Evans and Paul Raynor (or is that the other way round?). I stumbled across an admittedly 2 year old news article on the OS, and it referenced quite clearly at least 1 or 2 sessions per month for the kids but where is our senior Psychologist in the Staff list?
Why is our first team squad not once a month sitting on a mat cross legged, eyes closed, index fingers pressed firmly (but not too firmly) to thumbs and a steady hum floating out of NYS? OK, that is tongue in cheek, but seriously, we put a lot of effort and resources into fine tuning our players into fine physical athletes, why are we not doing this mentally too, which is just as important?
We hear time and again, that 90% of a competitive event is won in the mind, and for the sake of a what? £40k a year Dr Mind Map in a £2-4 million turnover business it’s hardly breaking the bank, why are we not taking advantage of this?
Of course, we cannot speak for the last 2 years, where we have enjoyed much on field success, but we are about to hit a pivotal point in SE’s tenure. Get promoted, and he will earn legend like status (we’ll absolutely need one in the Champonship), but what if we don’t do it?
Next season, I fear will be much tougher than this in L1, I think a few of us on MM have intimated this may be the case. Let’s face it the top 5 have been head and shoulders above the rest this season, but next season could be a more even keel spread. I have absolutely no idea who will go up, next season unlike this. My £2 bet on Wolves & Brentford looked good for a £2.50 return even when Leyton Orient were blowing everyone away before Christmas (they’d never go the pace).
We could be battling with any one of 10 or 12 teams to make the top 2 never mind top 6. With the weight of this season’s expectations on our shoulders, add to that we’ll probably be without Tavernier and God forbid any of our top players that want to move on to Championship level and it all starts to look a little less rosey and a warning sign the wheels may be falling off.
So enter the Dr, I think the inclusion of one could really could be the difference between the fine lines of success and failure.
Any Dr’s in the house? (Kempo this might not be your field).
ExeterMiller