Sheffield Wednesday’s Liam Palmer talks to Stuart Rayner on the influence different managers and coaches have had on him during his career, including Gary Megson, Carlos Carvalhal, Darren Moore and Danny Rohl ...
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00:00And you mentioned a couple of managers already, which ones were the most significant do you
00:11think in shaping you as a footballer?
00:17I'd probably say, starting from the beginning really, Alan Irvine, just in the way of, you
00:25know, his training and kind of the way he trapped me as a first team player, I wasn't
00:29kind of looked upon as a young kid, he gave me the same license as everybody else, that's
00:35how I felt, you know, confident enough to kind of pit myself against the players and
00:41obviously given my debut, so I'll always be thankful for Alan and moving forward, probably
00:49Gary Megson as well, shortly after, management style, totally different, come from a place
00:56of like real passion and that's something that, you know, quality of his that I really
01:02liked and he was able to kind of portray that through the players, which I found, probably
01:10still up to now, they're probably the manager that's done that the most, really.
01:16Then moving through, again, coming back from Trammier, yeah, probably Ronnie Moore at Trammier
01:22again, he's probably a big one that I don't really speak about, never really spoke about
01:27too often, but really approachable character, more so than the early days at Chef Wednesday
01:37where similar to a lot of young players, you don't really have that relationship with a
01:42manager where it's such an open dialogue and you always feel like, it's a bit like
01:46headteacher vibes when you're younger and you just want to say the right thing, but
01:50he was really down to earth on a level with the players, which probably went hand in hand
01:55with Trammier as a club, so that's the kind of side where he got his message through to
02:02the players from also being that kind of friend and on that level with the players, which
02:07again, worked really well for that team and that club.
02:14Then coming back, Stuart Gray, probably one that I really enjoyed playing for, a lot of
02:24encouragement, give you a lot of freedom, never really wanted to shout on ball, which
02:30at that stage of my career was quite helpful, I'd say, you know, young player, just obviously
02:36going to make mistakes coming into the first team, shouldered a lot of the responsibility
02:43himself, which I always admired as well at the time, when things weren't going right,
02:48never blamed the players, so that's something I liked about Stuart.
02:52And then, yeah, probably obviously Carlos was a big area for the club, but not so myself,
03:01if I'm being honest, I found myself kind of playing one every three games, if you like,
03:07and it was always a tougher game, so I wasn't really expected to get a result, but again,
03:14successful period where it was more the players that was playing could kind of do what they
03:20want and the players that was the 14th, 15th, 16th players found it a bit more difficult
03:28and I fell into that category at the time. Moving forward, obvious ones being, yeah,
03:38Darren Moore, definitely, I was obviously a lot older during his time and my kind of role
03:46changed within that time, within that team and he kind of learned on me a lot in terms of
03:53how's the dressing room feeling, what do you think to this, I'm thinking about doing this
03:59and really valued my input, which again, at that stage in my career, I really found like a new kind
04:07of responsibility and almost being seen as that leader within the dressing room, which I quite
04:14obviously have enjoyed that since, I've been in his office quite often, again, it'd be very
04:21much on a level in terms of the way that he spoke to you and his staff as well.
04:30I'm not sure if that's just because I'm older, you know, approaching 30, but
04:34having that honest, well, real honest kind of relationship, I really enjoyed working under
04:40Darren and I think that's kind of, even if he wasn't playing, which I was for the main,
04:48but you kind of still respected his approach and his kind of openness to
04:55treating everyone the same, just a really nice man. So, yeah, Darren's definitely up there.
05:02Obviously, we shared disappointment, but then the way he kind of used that and rebuilt the team,
05:07you know, quite a lot of ins and outs to then go on and have a successful promotion.
05:12Yeah, it's not easy. So, no, I think he did a great job. Yeah, and then
05:20on to Danny, really, obviously, Sisco's time was difficult for everyone and me in particular,
05:27off the back of a really good season, went away to Germany, had the double hernia operation last
05:33pre-season and found it difficult not being on the training pitch, you know, at the start of
05:39Sisco's tenure that I wasn't able to kind of affect things on the pitch. It was difficult
05:45off the pitch because I wasn't on the training ground. I wasn't kind of learning the way that
05:50he wanted to play and things. So, when I was given a chance in the team and the team wasn't doing
05:55great, it just kind of never worked. In terms of an actual person, I really got on with him again.
06:03I had a good relationship with him off the pitch and enjoyed working with his staff, but
06:07just for whatever reason, it didn't quite work out. And, yeah, Danny's come in, obviously,
06:14again, someone that's very driven, new ideas, obviously a lot younger.
06:27In the beginning, it was tough. Obviously, I'd not played much under Sisco and found myself
06:33out the side for the first six games, you know, not even making the bench, not making squads and
06:40off the back of a really successful season and getting the Player of the Year, it was
06:44something that I found difficult in the early part of Danny's kind of
06:51management. And then, yeah, I got my chance and was able to stay in the team really as
06:58results picked up and it opened my eyes to a new way of working and learning. And that was
07:05something that I was keen to get across to Danny, that, you know, I'm open to learning new ways and
07:13the demand that comes with it. I think he just saw an older player that had been there a long
07:17time and probably assumed that I would, you know, struggle to adapt. But me being me,
07:25like we spoke before, you know, I think now he can see and obviously the back end of the season,
07:32the way everything turned around, yeah, I really enjoy working under him.
07:39And, yeah, I think he'll manage at the top level. For sure, no doubt in my mind,
07:45the team is assembled around him. A lot of older heads, obviously, ex-managers in Henrik and
07:50Chris Powell and Neil Thompson. So they do work really well together.
07:57And, yeah, I'm looking forward to what this season can bring.