"For me, preparation for any game always started two hours after the one I had just managed. My drive home to the south coast on a Saturday night after a game could take three hours or more, and much of that would be spent on the phone while I had precious quiet time. When I was at Stoke City, my chairman Peter Coates would always speak to me then if we lost. If we'd won, he never bothered, knowing I wouldn't need comforting."
"Win or lose, however, I would always ring my assistants, David Kemp and Gerry Francis, and we would discuss the game in finer detail - away from the stadium to give us a different perspective. Then I would contact my chief scout, who would have been at our next opponent's game, for a quick run-down of what he had seen - their shape, patterns, strength, weaknesses and any injuries."
Match preparation starts immediately after the previous game, with managers using travel time for reflection and phone calls. Assistants are contacted for a detailed debrief away from the stadium to gain perspective. Scouts provide concise reports on the next opponent’s shape, patterns, strengths, weaknesses and injuries. Opponent footage is watched before the next week begins to form a clear tactical plan. The players’ week is scheduled around the next fixture, with Monday set for light training for those who played and a match-related debrief versus the reserves to reinforce positives and correct negatives on the pitch.
Read at www.bbc.com
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