Exclusive: Building Chelsea's Sport Science & Psychology Setup (with Tim Harkness)

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Exclusive: Building Chelsea's sport science & psychology setup (with Tim Harkness) - Part 2

12d ago 47:28

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Sometimes, stats really help to paint a picture. Tim Harkness worked at Chelsea for 14 years, between 2009 and 2023, during which time the London club won 14 major trophies. Whilst no-one's claiming that Tim’s time at the club was as significant as some of the coaches he worked with, from Jose Mourinho to Carlo Ancelotti, it’s also true that sustained sporting success (spanning different coaches, owners and, of course, players) is usually underpinned by sound backroom practices.

In the second part of a two-episode interview with Tim, we look at how he worked with coaches from Antonio Conte to Frank Lampard, why Thomas Tuchel’s approach to supporting backroom staff left such an impression on him and what lessons there are to take from a near decade-and-a-half stint at Stamford Bridge.

You can listen to the second part of this two-episode conversation via the audio player above. Part 1, which focuses on the first part of Tim’s tenure at Chelsea, is available here.

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Key takeaways

If you don’t have time to checkout the pod, which I’d definitely recommend doing, here’s a quick rundown of my thoughts on the episode:

* Confidence’s counter-intuitive impact on performance: the reality, from Tim’s experience, is that some of the very best players in the world (and we’re talking about the top 0.1%) aren’t actually as wedded to self-improvement as you might think. Their belief in their ability (backed, it should be said, by experience of winning the biggest titles in football) is such that confidence fuels performance. This strips away some of the negative side-effects, such as self-dissatisfaction and introspection under pressure, of an over-zealous drive to improve. Tim joked about a piece of advice he gave to coaches (‘Don’t care too much, don’t try too hard and don’t try to get better’) and whilst this might not sound like performance principles made for elite football clubs, there’s more than a grain of truth in that triumvirate.

* Game intelligence translates to off-pitch interactions: the common perception of Antonio Conte is of a manically-focused, machine-like manager, perhaps lacking the social skills associated with some of the other coaches Tim worked with, such as Carlo Ancelotti. But Tim was emphatic when I asked him about Conte’s ability to collaborate with support staff: as a former Italian international, imbued with the intelligence to read other players (and, by proxy, people), Conte knew how to get the best out of people. He employed his brother to act as an intermediary between the coaching and analysis staff. He also employed a fitness coach who acted as conduit with the performance team. Conte might be robotically tunnel-visioned when it comes to winning, but there’s a social strategy behind his methods.

* How a head coach should protect his support staff: during our conversation, Tim singled out a story showing Thomas Tuchel’s way of working with his backroom team. Ex-Chelsea midfielder Hakim Ziyech picked up a calf strain and the support staff were concerned about his load, to the point where Tim suggested the Moroccan should be left out of the following game. The recommendation, which Tim provided to Tuchel in written form, was accepted and Ziyech was rested, much to the midfielder’s consternation. The former Ajax winger stormed around the Chelsea training ground, demanding to know who had propsoed resting him. On hearing the fallout, Tim spoke to Ziyech, showed him the data underpinning his recommendation to rest and told Tuchel about the conversation, saying that he felt it was his duty to tell the player. Tuchel’s reaction was emphatic. As Tim recalls, the German head coach’s reply was simple: ‘No, I’m the one that’s going to take the hit for that’. Tuchel explained that he took the decision to leave Ziyech out of the team and would take full responsibility for the selection. Not only did the now-England head coach talk to Tim, but he also followed the one-on-one by addressing the entire non-playing staff, saying: “I will never criticise what you do and I will never criticise you for sharing your opinion.” It’s an episode that speaks volumes for Tuchel’s integrity and paints a picture of how head coaches should support their backroom teams.

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