Sports Psychologists

[GG Riva]

I see that Man U have appointed Sascha Lense "to help the players brains work with the body rather than against it" according to the manager. I believe most top clubs employ a sports psychologist and obviously feel it`s money well spent.

We probably can`t afford one, but I can`t help thinking that, given our league position, a good sports psychologist might be a better addition than another average player.

Thoughts?

[Mr Mac]

I heard Rangnick talking about this at the end of last week when he said the Sasche Lense will be working on the training field alongside his coaches so they need to get on board with it. 

Said something along the lines of its not about players lying on a couch. 

Quite an interesting field probably the next area for big gains and somewhere we could probably benefit from with the right input. 

[Teuchter]

To an extent, psychology should be something a decent manager is skilled in - Jock Stein or Ferguson are examples where specific instances are talked about.

For the current situation at EEP, I suppose by January there will be a clearer picture of how Hughes is doing.

You use the word good. How good a psychologist will you get for the price of a lower league footballer - even a part time one?
I recall Jimmy Nicholl talking enthusiastically about using a sports psychologist. The only trouble was, it wasn’t during his time when Raith where punching well above their weight. It was during his less than successful stint at Millwall.

 

[Digs]

You only need to look at what happened to British Cycling when Dave Brailsford brought in Steve Peters, author of The Chimp Paradox to see what happens when psychology is applied in the right way in sport. It's one of the small margins that Brailsford talks about when he's talking about success in elite level sports. Craig Bellamy also credits Peters with not only saving his career but his own mental health.

I have also used it myself when my son was going through a tough time with his football, and it was all down to confidence. I got him the tools from stuff I found online and he applied it before and after every game to try and shift his mindset, and he still uses it. The difference in him after I did that was night and day. 

It's not going to be a magic pill though, it has to be part of a wider change within the team. A good sports psychologist isn't going to turn a team around that is made up of several players who aren't good enough to do what you want them to do, no matter how well they respond to it.

[GG Riva]

3 hours ago, Teuchter said:

To an extent, psychology should be something a decent manager is skilled in - Jock Stein or Ferguson are examples where specific instances are talked about.

For the current situation at EEP, I suppose by January there will be a clearer picture of how Hughes is doing.

You use the word good. How good a psychologist will you get for the price of a lower league footballer - even a part time one?
I recall Jimmy Nicholl talking enthusiastically about using a sports psychologist. The only trouble was, it wasn’t during his time when Raith where punching well above their weight. It was during his less than successful stint at Millwall.

 

Yea, the best managers used to combine both roles, of course and the Pars were blessed with two who were different class - Jock Stein and Jim Leishman. We could have probably had Fergie, before or after St Mirren, but his style was a bit rough compared to Stein and Leish.

As for the salary, Google suggests £20-22k for a newly qualified psychologist and around £35k for an experienced one. Many of our players will be earning something similar, don't you think?