Josh GOWLING
HEREFORD FC MANAGER
MARVIN Morgan's death is a reminder of how precious life is.
I met him through business outside of football and he was a great guy.
It's really sad for his family and close friends. My thoughts are with them.
Not only did he achieve a lot in football, he also did so much for the black community and the community as a whole. Marvin was a genuinely nice person with an infectious smile and a bubbly personality. He genuinely wanted to help people and their progression.
The work he put in with his clothing brand Fresh Ego Kid just shows how diligent he was with his business. On Monday, a FEK top I'd ordered turned up and I was over the moon – a few hours later news came through of his sudden passing.
It's clear to see from the tributes on instagram how much he meant to people. He was an inspiration.
Look at what Fresh Ego Kid has created and the clothes brands that have come after him. He's inspired a whole generation.
The amount he achieved in his 38 years is incredible. We have to celebrate that. He opened doors up for a lot of people. He leaves a fantastic legacy.
It's amazing what a positive string of results can do in football. All of a sudden, everything feels a lot brighter.
After a tough start, recent results have been really pleasing. Since my last column, we had a run of five games with five wins and five clean sheets.
As a former defender those shutouts make me very happy. Especially as I believe winning five on the bounce without conceding is also a club record.
In the period where we weren't winning, our football was probably prettier on the eye. Don't get me wrong, we've still been playing good football – just not as expansive as before.
When you're not getting results you've got to tweak something. We have a clear structure for how we want to play. That means we can make the little changes that has enabled us to pick up good results.
The lads have been excellent. If there's a defender in the division playing better than Krystian Pearce has this last month or so I'd like to see it.
Even when we were second bottom of the National League table, we all had confidence. We knew it would turn at some point. And it has.
I am very organised and structured in my life. As a player I had a meticulous routine during the week. If I missed something from the routine and in the first 15 minutes of a game we switched off and the opposition scored, I could look back and say: I didn't do that properly in the week. Maybe that's why I wasn't focused enough.
Framework
As a manager, I want that same clear framework. If you don't have one and you're not getting results, what do you change? Everything is off the cuff when you don't have a clear plan or identity.
We do and that allows us to look at things objectively and ask the right questions.
It's also why I have driven and motivated staff around me. I don't like nodding dogs. I want to be challenged. Everyone will put their thoughts in. I don't have to drive the staff – they have that naturally and will push the lads. It's a high performance environment.
Before the last two seasons we've gone down to Torquay for a mini staff camp.
I have a mentor down there who works all over the world. He has a high performance mentality and is an elite trainer We have a day where we brainstorm the fundamentals, what is important to us, what is important to winning and what drives the high performance environment. We come away having defined our clear roles and expectations for the season.
Thinking broadly is vitally important. Like many people, in lockdown I watched The Last Dance on Netflix about Michael
Jordan's remarkable NBA career. That excited me. You could see how driven he was by success – it's scary how much he wanted to win. But good because he had a clear focus.
Approach
On the back of the docu- mentary I read Eleven Rings, the book written by Jordan's former Chicago Bulls head coach Phil Jackson.
I like to learn and take things from other sports. We can't be insular with our approach. I'm always looking for that extra one percent.
In the NFL, players will have a weight session after games. That's something that is really alien to football. I want to introduce that at our club.
As long as there is no ingame injury, it's probably the best time where your growth hormones are spiked and you can get the most gains. You also know the next week you can push yourself a bit further.
In the future, is that something we can do after home games to give us an edge?
We're turning the tide. The club was on the back of two relegation battles when I took over. I felt we didn't have that much respect across the league.
Opposition managers talk well of us now. We need to cement that and put together a good run over the festive period.
