The Mind Room

Southampton's former Head of Sports Science and the man credited with introducing futsal to the UK, Simon Clifford, stops by for a fascinating discussion about the psychological characteristics of the 'perfect footballer'. Simon talks to us about the players he's worked with, including Juninho, Gareth Bale and Micah Richards, who display some of the mental attributes you might expect to find in th...

Nick Littlehales, aka 'The Sport Sleep Coach', drops by for a discussion about the impact of sleep on players' performance.  We talk about Nick's career, spanning spells with Manchester United, Real Madrid, Arsenal, Chelsea and England, discuss the role that sleep coaching can play in improving performance and look at the effect of COVID-19 on fatigue in football.   Running order:  Part 1: Introdu...

Renowned academic Professor Marc Jones joins us for a discussion about the impact of stress on performance, as we continue to look at how footballers, coaches and the people around them respond to pressure. We talk about Marc's work with academy players, the potentially positive role that fear of failure can play in motivating athletes, the impact of the absence of crowds on performance, how playe...

In the latest episode of The Football Psychology Show (formerly known as the Beat The Press podcast), we speak to Wycombe assistant manager, Richard Dobson. We discuss the club's pioneering psychology programme, established by Richard and responsible for helping to support players such as Jordan Ibe and Anthony Stewart. In Richard's first in-depth interview on the subject, he reveals the secrets b...

In this episode of The Football Psychology Show (formerly known as the Beat The Press podcast), we speak to award-winning journalist and author, Mike Calvin.   Mike talks to us about leadership in sport, drawing on his experience of co-writing Gareth Thomas’s and Alistair Cook’s autobiographies.   He also gives us a rare glimpse of the realities of football management, recounting interviews with m...

In this episode of The Football Psychology Show (formerly known as the Beat The Press podcast), we speak to Dr Misia Gervis, leading sports psychologist and academic. Join us for a fascinating discussion about her time working for the England women's team and the role she has played in supporting academies at Wycombe Wanderers and QPR. We look at how clubs are supporting their players during the c...