Mental health is a taboo topic in the world of football, but more and more brave people dare to mention it. It is a sport where the demands are always maximum and in which there are insults, threats and a lot of pressure on the shoulders of people who continue to be just that, people. Furthermore, among all the figures that take to the field, there are two that are especially neglected in that sense, which are the referee (a high-risk profession not suitable for everyone) and the coach.
Graham Potter, who coached Chelsea in 2023 and who ended up leaving the London team after not achieving the expected results, has spoken about the latter. In the ‘High Performance’ podcast, the English coach spoke about that pressure that coaches endure: “You have to deal with that frustration, you have to deal with that anger and try to find meaning in it.” To face this battle, the former Brighton player also recommended having some support: “I think you have to work very hard psychologically. I have received help from some people as well, because I don’t think you can do it alone.”
He has referred to the issue despite the fact that, according to him, “if you talk about mental health, there is a feeling that there is weakness in it.” Especially because of his thinking about what is expected of a coach: “Culturally, the coach has to be an alpha male. You have to be strong, know everything, have thick skin, not worry about anyone else and all that kind of things”.
“The inner voice, the impostor syndrome… that’s how it’s been my whole life
Graham Potter, former Chelsea manager
Their mentality, however, is different: “We are human beings and, although we may say this and give a perspective that we don’t care about anything, we are human beings and we are programmed to be socially connected and to want people to like us.”
Graham Potter with his players at Chelsea.EFE
The coach behind the scenes
Graham Potter claims to have lived with certain thoughts throughout his career: “The inner voice, the imposter syndrome… that’s how it’s been my whole life.” Something that, with defeat, increases: “Anger, sadness, disappointment… Just when you think you’ve gotten out of the quagmire, suddenly another setback hits you.”
My wife told me that she was physically there, but that she wasn’t really there.
However, the English coach has achieved great achievements throughout his career, with good results at Brighton and Swansea, which allowed him to have the opportunity in one of the greats of the Premier League. Although it didn’t go as expected and he had to face the difficulties of a layoff: “You’re trying to figure out how to be a human being again, you’re adapting to not being in football, it’s the first time in 30 years that I haven’t had a game.” the weekend.”
Potter during a Champions League press conference.Getty Images
Now, he faces another stage in which he is rediscovering new things and moving away from that constant pressure to which he was subjected in the world of football: “I want to reconnect with my children. My wife told me when I was a coach that I was physically, but that wasn’t really there.” His way of dealing with ‘grief’ was through a change in his lifestyle: “I focused a lot on personal care. I went to the gym, I tried to sleep better, I improved my diet… Conversations with friends, with family and professionals helped me make sense of everything.
Graham’s testimony further demonstrates how necessary mental health care is in sport. Not only for the athletes themselves, but also for coaches and other components of a professional team. Because behind the results, the titles, the defeats, the insults, the praise and the spectacle, what remains are people.
