Breaking Lines
![Breaking Lines](https://pbcdn1.podbean.com/imglogo/image-logo/17677956/Podcast_Artwork_01_1_2_1__xgzr49.jpeg)
Join Gary Rowett and Dave Carolan to peek behind the dressing room door and the training ground gate as we give you the insights and context into the world of football management and working inside football! With 2200 games between them, they have seen a lot - from Premier League to Non-League, countless players and staff, as well as millions of miles travelled across the length and breadth of English football. Not to mention all the training sessions, video sessions, S&C programmes, team meetings, pre-season trips and so on! There’s even a fair few pre-seasons to be reflected upon Each episode we will cover topics that perhaps most fans would like to know the reasons behind why certain things go on in football clubs -selections, injuries, transfers, results, etc. We will look to give you, the listener the context to bridge the gap between what you might think is going on and what actually is! So join us as we look to Break the Lines between the factual world of football and the fiction!
Episodes
Episodes
![The Final Bend - A Unique Psychology](https://pbcdn1.podbean.com/imglogo/image-logo/17677956/Podcast_Artwork_01_1_2_1__xgzr49_300x300.jpeg)
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Thursday Mar 14, 2024
The Final Bend - A Unique Psychology
Thursday Mar 14, 2024
Thursday Mar 14, 2024
The long season is nearing its end across the land but there's still enough games to play - and that's when an interesting anomaly happens every single year. A Unique Psychology...
Teams seemingly cruising at the higher reaches of the league suddenly develop vertigo and begin to have patchy results. Meanwhile in the depths of the divisions there's a collective spark of life as teams seemingly realise it's now or never and try to get themselves out of trouble. Meanwhile in the middle of the leagues, teams hit the doldrums or worse. Sleepwalking their way into relegation trouble as results and motivation seemingly dry up or making a late surge for the top as results suddenly click!
The psychology of the situation is fascinating as pressure is manifested in a variety of ways - positive pressure at the top can also be overbearing, negative pressure at the bottom can paralyse decisions and actions. Each result and performance can increase the expectation or release the valve and bring more calmness!
But one thing is for sure. It's the time of the season where form is turned on its head and if you don't deal with it, the end of the season can lead to either devastation - or wild celebrations!
![Analyse This, Analyse That! - Are we reaching 'Analysis Paralysis'?](https://pbcdn1.podbean.com/imglogo/ep-logo/pbblog17677956/Podcast_Artwork_02_39e4y8_300x300.png)
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Sunday Mar 10, 2024
Analyse This, Analyse That! - Are we reaching 'Analysis Paralysis'?
Sunday Mar 10, 2024
Sunday Mar 10, 2024
Analyse This, Analyse That… each and every moment of every game is hyper analysed today. A player, coach and team cant do anything without it being dissected on the studio, on social media or elsewhere. Sure it gives great insights into the game and how it is being played - and education for those interested in the nuances of the tactical challenges, but it also can be used to build a narrative around a coach or players as their performances are dissected to within an inch of its life!
It's come s long way from a single video tape and a chat with the manager where essentially you (as a player) had to agree with them as a manager! As Brian Clough once quipped...
And as technology and data provider continue to become even more elaborate with their understanding of the game, have we lost the true essence of sport; Decisions are made, mistakes happen because humans play sport in the moment - yet the analysis takes place using supercomputers and slow motion replays and under zero pressure!
For the modern coach they need to decide what and who is relevant as they look to build a winning team
Thanks for listening and please subscribe to us on your podcast player or see the episode on our YouTube channel @BreakingLines!
Join us next time on breaking lines when we go behind the dressing room door once more!
![Fall From Grace or Saving Face](https://pbcdn1.podbean.com/imglogo/ep-logo/pbblog17677956/Breaking_Lines_Episode_12_1__3bnwyb_300x300.png)
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Wednesday Feb 14, 2024
Fall From Grace or Saving Face
Wednesday Feb 14, 2024
Wednesday Feb 14, 2024
"We would like to thank them for their endeavours and wish them well for the future"... Cut and paste to many a club website announcing the departure of the manager or head coach from their role - add in the now infamous corner flag photo and you've got yourself a Managerial Casualty.
Jurgen Klopp has managed his own imminent departure from Liverpool differently - he's chose the time, the place and the how of his future abdication of the Head Coach role. Only very few get afforded this; and normally because of the success, loyalty or connection that they have with a club. For everyone else, its a short message and the bus fare home dodging irate supporters who've been baying for blood for weeks, or even months!
This episode we explore some of the strategies that managers and clubs may use to ensure that the inevitable end is beneficial to all in so far as it's as fair as possible. It doesn't always work out for a manager, but ending a reign with mutual respect is probably best for all parties!
![Fade Away - When A Player's Time Is Up](https://pbcdn1.podbean.com/imglogo/ep-logo/pbblog17677956/BL_Episode_11_e3i7n4_300x300.png)
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Tuesday Feb 06, 2024
Fade Away - When A Player's Time Is Up
Tuesday Feb 06, 2024
Tuesday Feb 06, 2024
It's never easy for a player to accept that they have possibly reached the end of their club career - not necessarily their whole career completely - but at a particular club or at a level of the game. Some are cognisant enough and know it's happening and begin to prepare; others stay in a state of denial. Their game awareness still works fantastically - but maybe the physical side of the game eventually retires you despite all the additional work, rest and individual attention received.
And it's also the same with iconic players. Scorers of important goals, fan favourites, etc - the fans also find it hard to let go too! Everyone wants to remember the player as they were, perhaps not as they are.
Yet managing these situations is never easy for the manager. You're damned if you do, and damned if you don't! So what to do...
This episode explores how there are a number of ways to potentially come to an amicable end where player, coach, club and fans get to give each other the send off they all would prefer - but that also means everyone accepts the path that's about to be taken. And that doesn't always happen and that's when difficulties can occur.
![Crumble And Ball - Friday Nights in Hotels](https://pbcdn1.podbean.com/imglogo/ep-logo/pbblog17677956/BL_Episode_10-3_drtzvq_300x300.png)
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Friday Feb 02, 2024
Crumble And Ball - Friday Nights in Hotels
Friday Feb 02, 2024
Friday Feb 02, 2024
Many a Friday night has been whittled away in the environs of a *insert name of chain* Hotel by football teams across the world as the logistics of ensuring you're in the right town or city for the following days match kick in and the motorways are clogged with luxurious team coaches. But with perhaps 20 hours to kill before kick off, what does the team do?
The logistics of getting everyone to the hotel can be a challenge especially if the coach driver has their traffic radar set to Join Every Traffic Jam! The challenges of just getting out of London for example! You have a journey, before you begin your actual journey out of the capital to the other part of the country.
Catering for a professional football team is complex - dietary requirements, variety across a meal and a season and ensuring the Apple Crumble has enough crumble and just the right type of custard!
And then its prep for the game - the compulsory walk to nowhere, meetings galore and then off to victory… or at least thats the plan!
Please subscribe to us on your podcast provider and give us a rating, and perhaps a review - we appreciate them all - and they help us climb the podcast league!
Join us next time on Breaking Lines - thanks for listening!
![The Gambler - Half Time Strategies](https://pbcdn1.podbean.com/imglogo/ep-logo/pbblog17677956/Breaking_Lines_Episode_9_ppskh9_300x300.png)
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Tuesday Jan 30, 2024
The Gambler - Half Time Strategies
Tuesday Jan 30, 2024
Tuesday Jan 30, 2024
Kenny Rogers sang it well - you've got to know when to hold 'em, know when to fold, em... and half time in football is when the manager plays some of his big chips!
It is such a tricky period for a head coach - do you make tactical changes, substitutions even. A period of calm reflection or get stuck into them with an almighty rant. These are the choices
As the manager walks down the tunnel the thoughts that have been forming in their mind in the previous half begin to crystallise and the decision of what to do next are pressing
Do you need to change the mindset of the players? Change the game plan or change the players? Is the formation right? What will our opponent do?
All of these are options and of course there are others also adding their opinion into the mix. Coaches who may see other elements of the game, medics advising on player injuries, performance staff looking at the capacity of some players to last the pace!
Maintain the status quo MAY work but you have to also be prepared that the other coach may also make changes to how they face the second half.
In essence its often the strategies set out in the 5mins before the players leave that will effect the game - that is if the players actually follow the instructions!
![Time is Running Out - Deadline Day Decisions](https://pbcdn1.podbean.com/imglogo/ep-logo/pbblog17677956/Breaking_Lines_Episode_8_9q4phz_300x300.jpg)
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Tuesday Jan 23, 2024
Time is Running Out - Deadline Day Decisions
Tuesday Jan 23, 2024
Tuesday Jan 23, 2024
Deadline Day - the culmination of months of preparation for recruitment teams, managers and club hierarchy as they look to seal those late deals that might make the different. Wether players entering or leaving the building, the pressure grows as the clock winds down and the window slams shut (it always slams - never gently closed!)
The day can of course, be quite calm. Deals completed in the days previous and nothing is untoward. No last minute dashes to the MRI scanner, no hastily chauffeured players lost in traffic, or turnarounds on a busy motorway as the club is gazumped by a rival. Here's a lot of the grizzly details!
One of the main roles of any manager is to pick the team, and while its joy all round for the team selected, for some there the ignominy of being 'dropped' - or 'rested' / 'rotated' or 'not filling the requirements posed by the unique tactical structures presented by the personality of the opponent in the transitions in their strategy'. You're out!
But the psychology of communicating this to the player in question means it is fraught with danger for the head coach. Wrong tone to the wrong player at the wrong time and carnage can ensue and problems created that could have many unforeseen reverberations!
Welcome to Episode 8 of Breaking Lines
![Its Gaining Again - INEOS, Manchester United and Weather Woes](https://pbcdn1.podbean.com/imglogo/ep-logo/pbblog17677956/Breaking_Lines_Episode_7_1__c8wdwd_300x300.jpg)
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Wednesday Jan 17, 2024
Its Gaining Again - INEOS, Manchester United and Weather Woes
Wednesday Jan 17, 2024
Wednesday Jan 17, 2024
"Come on you little fighter & Get back up again!" Supertramp sang - and perhaps the rise of Manchester United is only around the corner!
For INEOS and Sir Dave Brailsford, Carrington and Old Trafford is the next stop as the multi-sport organisation looks to enhance the performance of the teams at Man Utd. And while being famous for the 'Marginal Gains' mantra at British Cycling and TeamSky, Brailsford is now taking on a beast with huge global standing in Manchester United. But it's not the first football club to explore using other sports and practitioners to influence their organisations. From Sir Clive Woodward and Steve Redgrave to MSG group and Barcelona many organisations have pooled knowledge across sports.
And as its winter in Northern Europe, the cold snap has returned and provides more challenges for clubs in simply trying to train - and then there's the games too! Wind, rain, snow, ice and, believe it or not, even sun have caused games to be postponed or curtailed. So what's there to do... well small areas of pitch are decimated, stadium steps are conquered and professionalism rains down - until we all get too cold and go back inside!
Enjoy this episode of Breaking Lines - please subscribe and if you enjoy the show, leave us a 5* rating and perhaps even a positive review! Thanks
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BREAKING LINES
A podcast like no other! Go behind the dressing room door with Gary Rowett and Dave Carolan as we take you on a guided tour into the world of football management. With nearly 60 years of combined experience - from Premier League to Non-League - their insights, context and stories inform you of the challenges that exist in working in professional soccer!