Graham Potter has hailed his footballing experiences outside of the UK and emphasised how they’ve helped his development as a coach.
Potter spent seven years in Sweden with Ostersunds, leading the side to the country’s top tier and European football.
He said, “There’s a lot to be said for broadening your horizons and learning the game in another environment if you have that opportunity.
“It’s the best thing I’ve done in my life so far. You leave England and have your beliefs and then you go somewhere else where they have a different perspective.
“I found it fascinating as it allows you to grow as a person both on and off the pitch. You come out of your comfort zone and you learn a lot about yourself. If it’s something you can do, then it can be a wonderful part of your life.”
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Albion’s head coach went on to discuss some of the differing aspects he encountered abroad, and emphasised that there are things to be learnt off the field of play as well as on it.
“Society is structured in a different way and you get to recognise that, that then influences the football,” he added.
“Sweden had 4G pitches and a summer league instead of a winter league. The passion of the crowd in this country is massive and can swing matches, that’s just one difference. It’s the same game, but with little cultural differences that can help you learn and develop through exposure to them.
“I learnt a lot and it was good for my personality. The step back into the UK with Swansea City was good for me too, and in the end I had years of good and varied experience before arriving in the Premier League.”
Potter’s Albion side have nine matches of the 2019/20 campaign left to play, sitting in 15th place with 29 points.
The boss has taken time to reflect on the season up until the halt at the start of March due to Covid-19.
“Every manager wants to try to implement a style – it’s a subjective choice, no way is better than anyone else’s.
“We’re always respectful of what’s happened before. Chris Hughton had done a great job and we’ve just tried to build on those foundations and put our ideas into that.
“The more we get to know the players and the club we’ll get better, that’s just the coaching process and is really important for us in terms of how we go forward.
“We’ve had 11 draws this season and the league is about fine margins – the exciting challenge we have is to try and turn some of those into wins if we play the last nine games. There aren’t too many where you think we were lucky to get a point, we’ve generally competed well as a whole.”