Dr William Davies and Dr John Gardner became the first professional psychologists in English top-flight football when Sir Bobby Robson employed them as consultants in 1981, at Ipswich Town.
Since then, William Davies has built one of the UK’s most successful enterprises, providing psychological training to the NHS and other related organisations.
Some able-bodied people match their talents on the field with equally difficult and destructive personalities. Having expensive players who have a sudden – or even a gradual loss of form, can cost a club tens of millions of pounds – either directly or indirectly, so the introduction of a sports psychologist into a football club makes perfect sense.
I had suggested before that it is about time that Paul Cook did something similar, and then I read, in an article today in the East Anglian Daily Times, that Town had been doing this for a while – probably since the start of the season. Rakeem Harper is already seeing the benefits, and he believes that the sports psychology sessions are already having a positive impact on the squad.
“We’ve been doing it for a good couple of months now, going to sessions once every couple of weeks to get a bit of extra fuel. We do sessions as a team and then the players get the option to go one-on-one. I have my own personal psychologist that I already used. You pick up a few habits you can add to your life. It’s made me think about how much your actions are shaped by your thoughts. Being mindful of that, allows you to control yourself more. I think it’s powerful.”
I have always said that sports psychology is much understated in the game we love. We are all human beings, with the same set of emotions, and we all know about that bad day at the office! Premier clubs all employ professional psychologists, and if I player goes out onto the pitch feeling ten feet tall, then it is naturally going to help the team.
That win against Portsmouth was all about collective self-belief. This could be the catalyst for rapid progress up the table – providing we don’t do what we did after that 6-0 drubbing of Doncaster, and don’t turn up for the next one against Accrington Stanley!
We must all learn from this, starting on Saturday against Fleetwood Town, at Portman Road. Another emphatic goal-feast and momentum will begin to build, and with that wonderful win at Pompey fresh in our memory, it should ensure another big crowd on Saturday, and could lead to another resounding victory! Let’s hope so. It’s what dreams are made of.
