THIS JOB TAKES ITS TOLL
Mental health does not discriminate says Potter
BRIGHTON V CHELSEA 3PM
GRAHAM POTTER has opened up about the mental health pressures faced by Premier League bosses before his return to Brighton today.
The new Chelsea head coach admitted it is difficult “to feel sorry for a Premier League manager” in the current economic climate.
However, the former Ostersunds and Swansea coach, who became emotional talking about his late parents yesterday, said: “Mental health doesn’t really discriminate with your status or how much money you earn either.”
Potter enjoyed “three happy years” at Brighton before succeeding Thomas Tuchel, right, at Chelsea last month.
He said his learning experiences before and during his first Premier League job at the Amex Stadium had prepared him for Stamford Bridge.
“I’m no genius,” he said. “If I had left university at 30 and come into the Chelsea job I would have lasted three seconds.”
Now 47, Potter said he had continued to evolve as a manager and a person under the stress of life in the top flight.
“Ultimately a little of what we are is bait for you guys,” said Potter.
“There is always somebody under pressure so there is a narrative there. You want to compare with the previous guy, which isn’t great for the mental health if you’re comparing I would say generally. No one can know the other context. You can only know yourself and your context. “My mum and dad passed away during that period of time at Brighton so then you’re going, ‘OK, I’ve got these feelings here that are powerful and raw’ but then you’re also trying to compete in the Premier League.
“So that was the first six months of life in the Premier League and the quote is, ‘You’re fixing the plane while
it’s up in the air’. That’s a great quote.
“Thankfully, I was at a really good club that gave me support and help and we managed to stay on the path.”
Potter stopped himself and his tears when asked about his pride that his parents were able to see him – however briefly – as a Premier League manager but not in the Champions League.
“My mum was suffering from dementia – she was still alive but she wouldn’t have known,” he said. “So in the end it was nice for her not to suffer that. My dad definitely – he came to the first game, to Watford... he just had a very short battle with cancer and six weeks later he wasn’t here.
“A lesson and a reminder to us all that life is precious and short and anything can happen and it puts things in perspective.
“I always think back to them now and they are with me all the time. Whenever you stand at the San Siro, and you think, ‘Wow, they would just love to be there’. They wouldn’t be able to contain themselves.”
Potter hesitated and apologised – “Excuse me I’m getting a little bit...” – before adding: “But, yeah, that’s life and I am not the first person to lose parents.”
The Premier League adds to the strain, though.
“We are part of a sport where we create pressure,” he added. “Then one’s gone and it is on to the next. It was Steven Gerrard a few weeks ago and then it will be somebody else. It is difficult in the world that we are living in to feel sorry for a Premier League manager, but mental health doesn’t really discriminate with your status or how much money you earn either.” Potter became a workaholic in Sweden. “It’s -20 outside in the winter and your wife has left everything that she knew, she is there with an 11-month-old kid, crying, because she misses her family and her job,” he said. “You sort of think, ‘I have got to make this work’.”
Now he seeks a “balance” by avoiding newspapers, radio and social media and spending time with his young family.
“They give you perspective,” he said. “You have these problems and then you speak to a seven-year-old or 12-yearold and everything becomes a little bit simpler.”