How to win the play-offs

Ian Holloway’s managerial career has been defined by his success in the play-offs.

He has been through five play-off campaigns as a manager, achieving promotions to the Premier League with Blackpool (2010) and Crystal Palace (2013) while also suffering final defeats with Blackpool (2012) and Queens Park Rangers (2003).

He has been there, done it, achieved huge highs and suffered great heartbreak.

So, what is the key component for reigning supreme in this dramatic format? We asked him for a his five-step guide to winning the play-offs.

This is the time of the season I miss the most. It’s killing me. All the memories come flooding back to you. It’s moments like this that you can’t replicate.

There is nothing like it for emotions. These are the games that matter. It’s knockout football at its most dramatic. Take the upcoming European Championships; they’re hardly worth watching in the group stages.

Play-off football is all in or all out. 

How do you go about winning it? Well, here are five important things to consider. 

1) Manage your emotions

The play-offs have given me the best and worst feelings in the world – dealing with those emotions is the absolute key to achieving success in this format.

You have to be ready to deal with both emotions – if you don’t, it will hit you like a steam train.

To quote Muhammad Ali, it’s about the will, not the skill. That makes people champions.

You have to feel both sides of the coin to understand the play-offs. When I suffered semi-final heartache with Bristol Rovers and a final defeat with QPR, it stood me in good stead for future campaigns, although it didn’t feel like it at the time. You start to think that you are always going to be the bridesmaid.

I think I’ve got it sussed now. It’s all about ascendancy and gaining it. It’s like a tug of war, but an emotional one.

I prepared my lads at Blackpool by explaining to them the feeling you get when you lose and the emotion you feel when you win. Your players need to be like robots and not get too emotional on the play-off roller-coaster. That comes through extensive work on the training ground to programme their minds to deal with different situations.

When Blackpool fell behind against Cardiff in the 2010 final, it was all about putting the ball back down calmly and regaining the ascendancy.

If you go into the play-offs thinking you’re just going to win, well, unfortunately …

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