Copied this from the Standard. Lee Bowyer is discovering that being a manager can keep you up at night.
The 41-year-old has never had problems sleeping, but in the early hours of last Friday he was wide awake and unable to switch off.
Charlton had been beaten 5-3 at Scunthorpe a few days earlier in a blip to what has otherwise been a strong start to the season in League One.
Bowyer woke with his mind immediately working out how to set up his team against Coventry in their next game.
“What I am finding hard, and I did as a player, is losing,” he says. “Because I had been out of the game for five or six years, I had forgotten what it was like. Now, these last two games against Scunthorpe and Coventry [a 2-1 defeat] especially, they hurt.
“Last Thursday night, I woke up at 3.30am. I never wake up in the night. I woke up and the first thing I was thinking about was the shape of the team, the game against Coventry, playing this way, playing that way.
“I was going to start Tariqe [Fosu-Henry] out wide left and then I moved him back into the No10, from me waking up at 3.30am, playing the game through in the mind and thinking, ‘Where could he be more effective, what are their strengths?’
“It turned out to be the right decision, because Tariqe did exactly what I asked of him. But I was awake for about an hour and a half. It was 5am and I was thinking, ‘Please just let me go to sleep now!’ Eventually I did, but it was crazy. I never thought that would happen to me. I am a laid-back person and when I was a player I could switch off.”
Despite that disrupted night, Bowyer is clearly loving life as a manager and is doing an impressive job in difficult circumstances. Amid a backdrop of uncertainty around a potential takeover, Bowyer has got Charlton in the promotion mix and playing the best football seen at The Valley in a while.
They have dropped out of the top six after a run of three games without a win, but Bowyer is sure they will cut out the defensive errors that have crept into their game and get back on track.
“The goals we have given away in the past week have not been like us,” he says.
“It is not because the players have taken their foot off the gas, because the effort and the work rate is still there, it is just switching off at times, basic defending. But we will get it right.”
Charlton’s second string showed last night there is nothing wrong up front as they routed Stevenage 8-0 in the EFL Trophy, with debutant Toby Stevenson scoring a hat-trick.
It is a little over a month since Bowyer was appointed manager on a full-time basis after more than five months as caretaker. “Nothing has changed apart from my title,” he says. “I was always planning longer-term. My goal is to get promotion. If I do that then I am sure I will be here the season after.
“These are high expectations, given we do not have a big squad and our budget is a lot smaller than some others. We did not spend a penny all summer, but we have not played a team where I have thought, ‘Yeah, you are better than us’.”
Charlton do not play again until they host Barnsley on Saturday week and Bowyer will give his players a few days off this week. He will try to switch off, too, but his life is consumed by trying to get Charlton back in the Championship.
“Whatever I do I will be watching videos of Barnsley, then once I have watched the videos I will be sitting there watching television and just thinking about the game,” he says.
“I have never had so many headaches. I have had more headaches in this managerial period, including the end of last season, than in my whole life! I never got headaches. Now, I get them all the time because I am constantly thinking.
“But I am loving it: seeing players improve and, as a team, some of the football we are playing. People say it is the best football seen here in years.
“The most important thing for me is the players really trust themselves. We have scored goals where the goalkeeper has rolled the ball out from his hands to the defender and we have scored from there, without the other team touching the ball. Not many teams in this league are going to do that.”
Owner Roland Duchatelet is said to be pleased with Bowyer as he tries to sell the club. There are doubts about whether a proposed takeover by an Australian consortium will happen but they, along with several other interested parties, remain in talks over a deal.
“From what I hear, the Australians are still in the driving seat and as soon as they put these papers into the EFL it is theirs,” says Bowyer.
“But I have heard there are others interested. Charlton are a massive club. Will it happen? Yes, but I cannot tell you when.”
Second string? Don't think so, too many first-team regulars to call it a second string surely?
It's the Sub-Standard.
It's probably still in Premier League-mentality of assuming that all cup competitions (apart from the Champions' (sic) League) are played with reserve sides.
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Lee Bowyer is discovering that being a manager can keep you up at night.
The 41-year-old has never had problems sleeping, but in the early hours of last Friday he was wide awake and unable to switch off.
Charlton had been beaten 5-3 at Scunthorpe a few days earlier in a blip to what has otherwise been a strong start to the season in League One.
Bowyer woke with his mind immediately working out how to set up his team against Coventry in their next game.
“What I am finding hard, and I did as a player, is losing,” he says. “Because I had been out of the game for five or six years, I had forgotten what it was like. Now, these last two games against Scunthorpe and Coventry [a 2-1 defeat] especially, they hurt.
“Last Thursday night, I woke up at 3.30am. I never wake up in the night. I woke up and the first thing I was thinking about was the shape of the team, the game against Coventry, playing this way, playing that way.
“I was going to start Tariqe [Fosu-Henry] out wide left and then I moved him back into the No10, from me waking up at 3.30am, playing the game through in the mind and thinking, ‘Where could he be more effective, what are their strengths?’
“It turned out to be the right decision, because Tariqe did exactly what I asked of him. But I was awake for about an hour and a half. It was 5am and I was thinking, ‘Please just let me go to sleep now!’ Eventually I did, but it was crazy. I never thought that would happen to me. I am a laid-back person and when I was a player I could switch off.”
Despite that disrupted night, Bowyer is clearly loving life as a manager and is doing an impressive job in difficult circumstances. Amid a backdrop of uncertainty around a potential takeover, Bowyer has got Charlton in the promotion mix and playing the best football seen at The Valley in a while.
They have dropped out of the top six after a run of three games without a win, but Bowyer is sure they will cut out the defensive errors that have crept into their game and get back on track.
“The goals we have given away in the past week have not been like us,” he says.
“It is not because the players have taken their foot off the gas, because the effort and the work rate is still there, it is just switching off at times, basic defending. But we will get it right.”
Charlton’s second string showed last night there is nothing wrong up front as they routed Stevenage 8-0 in the EFL Trophy, with debutant Toby Stevenson scoring a hat-trick.
It is a little over a month since Bowyer was appointed manager on a full-time basis after more than five months as caretaker. “Nothing has changed apart from my title,” he says. “I was always planning longer-term. My goal is to get promotion. If I do that then I am sure I will be here the season after.
“These are high expectations, given we do not have a big squad and our budget is a lot smaller than some others. We did not spend a penny all summer, but we have not played a team where I have thought, ‘Yeah, you are better than us’.”
Charlton do not play again until they host Barnsley on Saturday week and Bowyer will give his players a few days off this week. He will try to switch off, too, but his life is consumed by trying to get Charlton back in the Championship.
“Whatever I do I will be watching videos of Barnsley, then once I have watched the videos I will be sitting there watching television and just thinking about the game,” he says.
“I have never had so many headaches. I have had more headaches in this managerial period, including the end of last season, than in my whole life! I never got headaches. Now, I get them all the time because I am constantly thinking.
“But I am loving it: seeing players improve and, as a team, some of the football we are playing. People say it is the best football seen here in years.
“The most important thing for me is the players really trust themselves. We have scored goals where the goalkeeper has rolled the ball out from his hands to the defender and we have scored from there, without the other team touching the ball. Not many teams in this league are going to do that.”
Owner Roland Duchatelet is said to be pleased with Bowyer as he tries to sell the club. There are doubts about whether a proposed takeover by an Australian consortium will happen but they, along with several other interested parties, remain in talks over a deal.
“From what I hear, the Australians are still in the driving seat and as soon as they put these papers into the EFL it is theirs,” says Bowyer.
“But I have heard there are others interested. Charlton are a massive club. Will it happen? Yes, but I cannot tell you when.”
It's probably still in Premier League-mentality of assuming that all cup competitions (apart from the Champions' (sic) League) are played with reserve sides.