Potter's playing days over
Friday, 19th Dec 2014John Potter expects to be a tracksuit manager and claims that his playing days are now over:-
"It certainly won’t be a strip anyway, I’ve been warned off that. That’ll be me done playing, although I’ve enjoyed the few games I’ve played with the younger ones. I might do that from time to time, and Neil McCann will probably be the same. He’ll be raring to go for Under 20s, first team, or whatever he wants!
"That’s the way we are. We like playing, we like training and we feel it’s good for coaching when we’re out there with them. The two of us feel as if we’re winners, we’ve got a desire to go well and we’ve done it in our careers so we’re hopefully going to do it in management as well.
"At the moment we’re all just going to dig in. I spoke to the younger ones and we train all together, mostly in big groups. So at the moment we’re going to run with it – myself and Neil. We’ll all chip in as needed and we’ll see in the next few weeks if someone becomes available that I like or someone who can maybe help out. We’ll just have to wait and see.
"I’m not thinking longer-term at the moment. To be honest I just thought: 'I’ve got the job, it’s mine'. I know it’s an old cliché but I genuinely have to take it day-by-day, week-by-week. Obviously in football you’ve got to try and have a wee plan in place and look ahead, scouting for players and that sort of thing. But my aim is to concentrate on the immediate future and see where it takes us.
"Of course I want to prove I’m the right man for the job. I’ve got the chance and I’ve said to the players: ‘If you’ve got the jersey, keep it.’ They’ve got to work hard and do the right things to do that, and I suppose I’m the same. I know it’s a results-based business. Football management is and it’s my choice to get into it. I could have stayed as a youth manager for as long as I wanted probably, but I didn’t want that. I wanted this and now I’ve got that."
Potts spent seven years at St Mirren under the management of Gus McPherson and Andy Millen and from a playing point of view he feels that he probably learned the most from them and got an insight from them as club captain:-
"They were quite disciplined, quite strict and got the best out of the group. We maybe weren’t the best team in the world but we did what was needed and we won games. I enjoyed my time there and learned quite a lot as a player about the coaching side. Obviously when I came here, I learned a lot first of all from Stephen Wright who gave me the opportunity with the Under 17s and Under 20s, and then obviously the manager Jim Jefferies and Neil McCann.
"It is just learning bit by bit and it was quite a big thing when I got the Under 20s job that the manager left me to do my own thing. I had my own group and trained every day. I picked whatever team I wanted, played whatever shape I wanted.
"It stood me in good stead and I think it gave me a bit of practice. So from a management point of view I think I’ve learned quite a lot from the manager, but obviously I’ll do things my own way. I’ve got an opinion and I’ve got to decide what’s right for me and this group of players.
Taking his Dunfermline Athletic side to the Scottish Youth Cup final in 2013 gave the Pars new manager a boost of confidence but he still brushed off the compliment:-
"A lot of it was down to the young boys being in the first team. Some of them were maybe thrown in but when I see the younger ones going in to the team, it was quite nerve wracking watching them play because I classed them as my boys. But they went in and did really well. Some have kicked on and done well, some maybe haven’t, but maybe now with me coming in they might think they will have an opportunity and they’ll get a chance.
"It was a big thing for the club at the time at a difficult stage, and it gave everyone a lift. For me, it was about getting boys and seeing them do well, and improving. That was the big thing for me."
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