The Chelsea head coach returns to his former club Brighton & Hove Albion for the first time in a competitive match this afternoon after swapping the Amex Stadium for Stamford Bridge at the start of September.

In the build-up to the match he has been sharing what from his time on the South Coast he has taken into his current role, and how the experience he has accumulated throughout his career has prepared him for the next step, as well as the difficulty in handling the pressure that comes with life as a Premier League manager.

‘Before I went to Brighton I had no experience as a Premier League manager, so I’ve learned through that,’ said Potter. ‘I think I knew this anyway, but it made it more clear that the path isn’t just a straight one up. That sometimes you have to suffer and you have to experience pain along the way.

‘Obviously the higher you are in the Premier League, the more noise there is, the more exposure there is, the more experts there are out there who will try to send you a different way. You have to learn that’s part of the process, that’s part of the job, part of the challenge and then you learn that you can deal with it and still keep moving the football club and the team forward, which is ultimately what you’re responsible for doing.

‘Like anything, you go through these experiences and you grow as a person. I’m not a genius, you go through these tough times and the good times, you have whatever life throws at you, and as a result I’m slightly better equipped for whatever’s inevitably going to come at me in this job. If I’d left university at 30 and come into the Chelsea job I’d have lasted three seconds, but because of the journey I’ve been on I’ve got more chance of being successful.’

He acknowledged that handling pressure is a vital part of being a Premier League manager, as there is always someone under scrutiny in the media, but warned it is important to remember the human being in every manager.

‘Ultimately a little bit of what we are is bait for the media,’ he explained. ‘There’s a narrative, there’s always somebody who has to be under pressure, it’s one after another. It was Steven Gerrard a couple of weeks ago, then it’s on to someone else. It’s difficult in the world we’re living in to feel sorry for a Premier League manager, but mental health doesn’t really discriminate with status or how much money you earn. I think we all need to be mindful of that.

‘People want to compare with the previous guy, so there’s always that going on, which isn’t great for mental health, I would say, because nobody can know the other context, you can only know yourself. So comparisons aren’t particularly healthy.

‘My mum and dad passed away during that first period of time at Brighton, so then I’ve got these feelings that are powerful and raw, but I’m also trying to compete in the Premier League. You have to manage whether you’re getting angry or disappointed or frustrated or whatever because of this or something else. That was my first six months of life in the Premier League.

‘The quote is “you’re fixing the plane while it’s up in the air”, that’s a great quote I think. That’s also the challenge, but thankfully I was able to come through it. I was at a really good club that gave me support and helped me and we managed to stay on the path.’

He went on to expand about that personal tragedy early in his time at Brighton in 2019 and how it taught him the importance of keeping football in perspective.

‘My mum was suffering from dementia so she was alive but wouldn’t have known when I started in the Premier League. My dad came to my first game, at Watford. He had a very short battle with cancer. I think his last game was Liverpool away and then six weeks later he wasn’t here.

‘So it’s a reminder for us all that life is short and precious, anything can happen, and it puts things in perspective. Now they’re with me all the time. I was standing at the San Siro thinking they would have loved to be there and wouldn’t have been able to contain themselves. But I’m not the first person to lose parents, that’s part of life.’

Potter also referenced the start of his spell with Ostersund, after relocating his family to Sweden, as a period which showed him how crucial it is to find the right balance in life.

‘When you move to the northern part of Sweden and it’s -20C outside in the winter and your wife has left everything that she knew and is there with an 11-month-old kid crying because she misses her family and her job, then you think “I’ve got to make this work” and by definition you throw yourself into it.

‘It’s difficult because if you want to achieve anything in life you have to work hard and I think I’ve done that, but you have to have a balance. People think you’re the manager so you should be first in, last out and I know where that’s coming from, but you need to have balance. You need family, you need something outside of football, because otherwise it’s too intense and you can’t see the wood for the trees.’