BarcelonaThe shouts that cut off Östersund’s icy wind did not come from the stands. There was not a soul in the stadium; nor any ball on the grass. That evening, the goal would be reached with Tchaikovsky’s notes. The lights of the Swedish city theater they had gone out, and two thousand people were waiting sitting in armchairs. One of the most important matches of the year was about to take place: the representation ofSwan Lake, played by the entire staff of the football team. This is the story of a team that made art the path to success.
The dream of succeeding as coach led Graham Potter to a Swedish town of 50,000. He had previously played football, although he did not play more than a dozen games in the English First Division. Inspired by Guardiola’s football, and having played for several semi-professional clubs, he arrived in Östersund in 2011. The team competed in the state’s Fourth Division, and in just five years faced some of the most important teams in the world. Europe. He has been coaching Brighton in the Premier League since 2019.
The Östersunds was a blank canvas. It had no history. There was no football tradition, in a city where the snow left the ball in the background. Potter was one of the promoters of the Culture Academy: during the season, the staff would work after training on a cultural project. “Graham put you out of your comfort zone. If you did, you knew how to handle adverse situations on the pitch,” Jamie Hopcutt, a Potter player from the English Ninth Division, told ARA. The cultural program had different formats: an exhibition of paintings, writing a book together or a rap concert. All the workers of the club were part of this experience.
The artistic side of football
The team spent three hours a day, twice a week, for six months, preparing for the performance of Tchaikovsky’s play. “It was hard at first, many of us doubted it would turn out well. It was a difficult routine, and more so after training, you’re tired,” said Hopcutt, who currently plays for Oldham Athletic in the English Fourth Division. Daniel Kindberg, the club’s owner during the Potter stage, argued that the ultimate goal of the program was to win games. During the process, they built a link with the city and the attendance of fans at the stadium multiplied. Winning the Swedish Cup allowed them to participate in the Europa League, the second continental competition. They dragged 5,000 people, a tenth of the city, to London, where they achieved the most memorable result: 1-2 against Arsenal.
But, as in the best stories, the most important thing was not the end, but the path. In 2017, the city hosted the CONIFA World Cup, in which teams not recognized by FIFA participate. One of them was Darfur United, a group of players from a refugee camp on the border between Sudan and Chad. This tournament crossed borders. Football was left in the background and these human values were ingrained in the city: part of the staff and coaching staff decided to donate part of their salary to the Darfur refugee camps. On the other hand, already in England and taking advantage of the football speaker, Potter collaborated with an NGO that aims to ensure the homeless. With their coaching staff, they decided to sleep for one night on the street to give it visibility.
On more than one occasion, Potter has acknowledged that without the master’s degree in leadership and emotional intelligence that he studied, he would not have been able to reach the elite. “It aims to develop footballers as people,” explains Bruno Saltor, Potter’s assistant at Brighton. Saltor grew up in Lleida and Espanyol, and from Valencia he made the leap to Brighton. That’s where he started his experience in the Premier League and ended up being, in addition to being a captain, a key person for the club. “He’s a coach who cares about the human side of the footballer,” Saltor says. Before the Cup final with Östersunds, all players received two cards: one from a relative and explaining why they were proud of them; the other was written by Potter, who praised some personal aspect of the footballer.
Of guardiolista formation
During his training, Potter attended training sessions for Guardiola’s Barça and Mourinho’s Real Madrid. The game that marked him the most, however, was the Champions League final in which Barça defeated Manchester United 3-1. “We play with a great team style, we try to dominate the games,” Saltor says. An important player to develop his football is the Catalan Marc Cucurella, trained at La Masia and signed last summer. “He is the player I have seen adapt more quickly to England. He has very good skills. He would give Barça a physical advantage,” explains Saltor.
“The more complicated the challenge, the more we believed in our ideas. It made me want to play football in a special way. I don’t think any player he has coached can say he didn’t enjoy it,” he said. Jamie Hopcutt. Graham Potter fell in love with Östersund with his delicate football, and is now one of the most exciting coaches in the Premier League. Saltor, in fact, says he “has the ability to coach a great England team”. Potter’s show has just begun.
