Peterhead manager Jim McInally gives P&J readers a glimpse into what life at the helm of a club is really like

Sunday is a day when I try to switch off after our game on a Saturday.

But if you’ve lost the game you can’t switch off – it’s just misery.

When you’ve won you enjoy it for a while but then you start thinking about your next match, but if you lose you dwell on it and you’re miserable.

I try not to take my mood from after the game home with me, but if you lose you feel terrible.

Last Monday I watched highlights of all the lower league games from the weekend, but with particular interest in Montrose against Forfar because Montrose were our opponents on Saturday. Technology has made a massive difference to the job of a manager in the last decade.

Now just about every club has footage of their games and even if it’s only a couple of minutes you get a feel for how they play and usually there is a set piece included in the highlights so I can see the opposition’s danger men at corners and free kicks.

I also watch highlights of our game from the weekend to see if there’s anything I’ve missed or anything from it I want to discuss at training.

On Monday I also speak to our fitness coach Stuart Hogg because he likes to plan his part of Tuesday’s training session a day in advance.

My Tuesday starts with going up to Balmoor in the morning. Most weeks the club’s directors come to the ground on a Tuesday.

Some weeks they have board meetings and sometimes we just sit and chat.

It’s a good chance for me to discuss our previous game with them and also speak about my plans for the games coming up.

Then on Tuesday evening the whole squad trains together for 90 minutes at Forfar’s Station

Park. At training Stuart Hogg usually takes the warm-up and part of the session, our coach David McCracken takes part of the session and I lead the final part of the session.

Once I know the number of players that will be at training I start to plan the session on Tuesday afternoon and I let David know the numbers and he plans his segment.

As Tuesday is the only time the whole squad trains together everything we do is orientated towards Saturday’s game.

After the warm-up we do a passing drill, 5 v 2 games in small boxes, sprints with the ball, then a possession game and then small-sided 4 v 4 games and at the end of training the strikers go off and do some extra shooting. After training one of the club’s directors, Harry Fraser, makes the players a meal and everybody usually gets away around 10.30pm.

The morning after training I always speak to my assistant manager David Nicholls. He goes round all the players and speaks to them and makes sure nobody’s feeling any ill effects from training.

David is closer to most of the players than I am. The majority of the squad is Glasgow-based and he travels with them to training and games and if the boys have got any issues he’s aware of it and can sort things out.

David’s been my assistant at East Stirlingshire and Peterhead, he knows what I expect from him and he does his job well.

I watched the highlights of Montrose’s game against Forfar again and also spoke to somebody that was at the game.

The video footage is useful, but it’s also good to hear from someone who was there what Montrose’s shape was and how they were in general play.

Once I have an idea of the opposition’s shape I think about how we can combat it.

Thursday is also usually the day when journalists from the local newspapers and radio stations phone me to preview Saturday’s game.

Thursday is also our second