In the latest issue of "Offside", a Swedish football magazine, there is a long interview with (now former) Östersund captain Tom Pettersson and there was some Graham Potter erotica in it. Made a little translation:
- When Graham flew to Gothenburg he told me all I needed to hear.
What did he say?
- He spoke about his philosophy and I told him how we trained in Gothenburg. How much focus we put on physics and us training too hard in the gym. About fatigue training without ball, and that I was sick and tired of it. 'We wont have one single training session where we dont play football, because I dont believe in it.', Graham said. He spoke about his football revolving around passing and that the club, with its geographical location, had to things differently.
What did you ask him?
- I remember asking if they played with three or four defenders. 'I cant answer that", he said. 'It changes and it can change during match as well'. I had never heard of that before but it made me very curious.
Tom could talk for a long while about how much he likes Graham Potter. How the coach always seems to have the right game plan and the ability to say the right thing in the right situation. Like that summer evening in 2017 when ÖFK had beaten Turkish Galatasaray with 2-0 in the Europa League qualifiers. When the initial joy was over in the dressing room, Potter asked Tom about his thoughts before the next game. "I hope we survive and go through", the central defender said.
Potter shook his head. "We're not going to Istanbul hoping, we are going down there with a plan so we make sure we go through, thats different", he said..
- I was already fearing the intense atmosphear in Istanbul. but when Potter said that, I got very calm. He was always so prepared, always a step ahead.
The strongest impression Potter made on the players that year was before the Swedish cup final against IFK Norrköping the same year. After the morning meeting was over, Potter handed each player an envelope containing a personal letter from himself, but also one from a close relative. The English manager had e-mailed family members of all the players and asked them to write something. Tom immediatly recognized the handstyle of his mother, Li.
- It said things about how proud her and dad was and I nearly started crying. I still get emotional when I think about it. We dont really talk about emotions in our family. So that mom had sat down and wrote to me by hand... it was a very strong moment.
How did the others react?
- I think we all had been crying loudly if it wasnt for the macho culture in football. Many players had parents in countries on the other side of the world. We felt completely undefeatable when we went out there and that was because of Graham.
It sounds like one of the best managers in the world. Didnt he have any bad sides?
- I dont know what that would be. He never got pissed when you made mistakes. I've had so many trainers say you have to dare to do things, and still they ****ing shout you in the face when you fail something. Graham wasnt like that. The only thing that made him really angry was if you didnt give it all.
Did that happen?
- 2018 we had a bit of a hangover after Europa League. After losing a game in Östersund, Graham sent a message to everyone in our Whatsapp-group and said that we, on our day off, should come in for individual talks. The talks lasted for 20 minutes and felt good. When he had all gone home, there was a new message: "Thank you for all the talks, bring you jogging shoes tomorrow". I thought he was kidding.
Why?
- It had never happened that we only ran. When we came to the training the next day it was a beautiful spring day and shining sun. The goals were on the pitch, Graham had put cones out and the balls were laying in the middle. 'Yes, he only wanted to give us a scare', I thought and everyone went on the pitch to warm up.
Graham came and said "Good talk yesterday. Many of you said that we didnt run enough in the match. So now we are going to run in two groups at the side of the pitch, and you run until I whistle. Meanwhile, you can look at the beautiful footballs you'd prefer to use".
How hard was it?
- Hard. I felt blood in my mouth when he finally whistled. But that wasnt enough. After we had some water we did relays in groups of three. Graham was laying down, stretched out, enjoying the sun. He looked like when Brian Laudrup celebrated his goal against Brazil in the 1998 World Cup. 'Get up', he yelled when Ronald Mukiibi was puking behind a sign. We did this thing maybe twelve times, and then he brought us out on the pitch again. Graham said: 'Run from side to side, repeatedly, to the balls in the middle, but only look at them!'
What was the purpose of this pennalistic session?
- The day after he said that it wasnt really something he stood for, but that you sometimes need a wake up call.
- When Graham flew to Gothenburg he told me all I needed to hear.
What did he say?
- He spoke about his philosophy and I told him how we trained in Gothenburg. How much focus we put on physics and us training too hard in the gym. About fatigue training without ball, and that I was sick and tired of it. 'We wont have one single training session where we dont play football, because I dont believe in it.', Graham said. He spoke about his football revolving around passing and that the club, with its geographical location, had to things differently.
What did you ask him?
- I remember asking if they played with three or four defenders. 'I cant answer that", he said. 'It changes and it can change during match as well'. I had never heard of that before but it made me very curious.
Tom could talk for a long while about how much he likes Graham Potter. How the coach always seems to have the right game plan and the ability to say the right thing in the right situation. Like that summer evening in 2017 when ÖFK had beaten Turkish Galatasaray with 2-0 in the Europa League qualifiers. When the initial joy was over in the dressing room, Potter asked Tom about his thoughts before the next game. "I hope we survive and go through", the central defender said.
Potter shook his head. "We're not going to Istanbul hoping, we are going down there with a plan so we make sure we go through, thats different", he said..
- I was already fearing the intense atmosphear in Istanbul. but when Potter said that, I got very calm. He was always so prepared, always a step ahead.
The strongest impression Potter made on the players that year was before the Swedish cup final against IFK Norrköping the same year. After the morning meeting was over, Potter handed each player an envelope containing a personal letter from himself, but also one from a close relative. The English manager had e-mailed family members of all the players and asked them to write something. Tom immediatly recognized the handstyle of his mother, Li.
- It said things about how proud her and dad was and I nearly started crying. I still get emotional when I think about it. We dont really talk about emotions in our family. So that mom had sat down and wrote to me by hand... it was a very strong moment.
How did the others react?
- I think we all had been crying loudly if it wasnt for the macho culture in football. Many players had parents in countries on the other side of the world. We felt completely undefeatable when we went out there and that was because of Graham.
It sounds like one of the best managers in the world. Didnt he have any bad sides?
- I dont know what that would be. He never got pissed when you made mistakes. I've had so many trainers say you have to dare to do things, and still they ****ing shout you in the face when you fail something. Graham wasnt like that. The only thing that made him really angry was if you didnt give it all.
Did that happen?
- 2018 we had a bit of a hangover after Europa League. After losing a game in Östersund, Graham sent a message to everyone in our Whatsapp-group and said that we, on our day off, should come in for individual talks. The talks lasted for 20 minutes and felt good. When he had all gone home, there was a new message: "Thank you for all the talks, bring you jogging shoes tomorrow". I thought he was kidding.
Why?
- It had never happened that we only ran. When we came to the training the next day it was a beautiful spring day and shining sun. The goals were on the pitch, Graham had put cones out and the balls were laying in the middle. 'Yes, he only wanted to give us a scare', I thought and everyone went on the pitch to warm up.
Graham came and said "Good talk yesterday. Many of you said that we didnt run enough in the match. So now we are going to run in two groups at the side of the pitch, and you run until I whistle. Meanwhile, you can look at the beautiful footballs you'd prefer to use".
How hard was it?
- Hard. I felt blood in my mouth when he finally whistled. But that wasnt enough. After we had some water we did relays in groups of three. Graham was laying down, stretched out, enjoying the sun. He looked like when Brian Laudrup celebrated his goal against Brazil in the 1998 World Cup. 'Get up', he yelled when Ronald Mukiibi was puking behind a sign. We did this thing maybe twelve times, and then he brought us out on the pitch again. Graham said: 'Run from side to side, repeatedly, to the balls in the middle, but only look at them!'
What was the purpose of this pennalistic session?
- The day after he said that it wasnt really something he stood for, but that you sometimes need a wake up call.
