Adams, Hurzeler and McGhee on the mental side of the game

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Two former managers discuss their approach with Fabian Hurzeler.

2025-06-15T06:00+01:00

Mark McGhee, Fabian Hurzeler and Micky Adams. 📷 by Paul Hazlewood.

Fabian Hurzeler was joined by former Albion bosses Micky Adams and Mark McGhee to discuss the ways in which to get the best out of their players.

The German discussed the importance of regular feedback, to ensure that his players know exactly where they stand with him.

“I try and give them two or three messages, he explained. "It’s more about, ‘okay, what do we expect from ourselves before the game? What are the demands for this game?’ And then give the whole group small feedback after, like how we saw the game, did we stick together for 90 minutes and how we performed as a team. So more general topics and then during the week I give individual feedback.

"We try – especially with this group – to do a lot of individual work, because they're very young.

“Of course you can train a big group. But for me it's about giving them repetition, spending time with them, convincing them with the power of the ideas.

“So that's a little bit how we work, but I'm also a big fan of the mental side. I think a coach has to be a good psychologist, so they have to get in the head of their players. You need to create a good mindset. You need to create the belief. If a coach can't transport the belief into this group, why should the players believe it themselves?”

Mark McGhee and Micky Adams met Fabian Hurzeler after the Players Awards 2025. 📷 by Paul Hazlewood.

McGhee – who managed Albion for three years, guiding us to promotion to the Championship in 2004 – added, “One of the things I think is that you prepare your team physically, and the physical condition doesn't really change, but the big variable is the mental state, that really changes.

"Where the physical side stays fairly consistent over whatever period of the season, the mental side could be anything. That is the thing that can make a team and a good player or a bad team. It's so important.”