This week we welcome Spurs defender Ben Davies to the show. One of the Premier League’s most experienced current players with nearly 300 top flight appearances for Tottenham and Swansea, he is also the current captain of Wales with 86 caps. But there is much more to Ben than just the footballer. We couldn’t go through this chat without getting the inside track on his 10 years at Spurs and winning trophies with his boyhood club Swansea. However alongside this, it’s a wider conversation on the current footballing landscape. The finances of a footballer and how they’re reported, his perspective on VAR, working with Pochettino, Mourinho, Conte, Rodgers, and the impact to a team of losing big players like Harry Kane, it’s a current players open and honest perspective of the business of football. Footballers often get a bad rep. If you want to see the other side of what players are like, listen to this. On today's show we discuss:
1. Managers and leadership:
From Pochettino, Conte, Mourinho…what are the traits that make the best managers special and what resonated most with Ben?
How do dressing rooms respond to managerial change? Can you afford to get attached to circumstance and personnel when things can change overnight?
The importance of experience in a dressing room to demonstrate the consistency and best practice required to succeed at the top level.
The value of having something to focus on outside of football makes you a better player and teammate.
2. The perspective of the player:
What's it like to be transferred? How the process unfolds and how involved are players in the decision making?
VAR - what do players think of it? A valuable correction tool or passion killer on and off the pitch?
Management structures in clubs and the roles of directors of football, chief executives, and heads of recruitment.
The importance of a trustworthy and capable inner circle.
3. Increasing exposure:
Media pressure and the expectations on moderns footballers to meet preconceived expectations.
Does this social media world help or hinder players? The creation of new opportunity can also lead to a refocusing of time away from the pitch?
Amazon All or Nothing: what did the Spurs dressing room think of having the cameras on them 24/7?
How the demands of a professional still leave you with time to focus on other interests leading to Ben’s opportunity for academic success.
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