#110 – The Greatest Playoff Comeback in English Football: Lessons in Mindset, Self-Belief & Overcoming Setbacks
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Episode Summary:
In this episode of Sport Is Life, Ian Hawkins shares an inspiring football comeback story and the power of mindset in overcoming setbacks. Drawing from his own team's remarkable turnaround, he discusses the importance of focusing on bright spots, believing in possibilities, and using past successes as motivation. Through examples from elite sports and personal development, Ian highlights how positive expectations and resilience can transform challenges into triumphs—on the field and in life.
About the Host:
Ian Hawkins is dedicated to showing how sports can transform lives. With extensive experience as an athlete, a coach, PE teacher, community volunteer, and manager at Fox Sports, Ian brings a wealth of knowledge to the podcast. His journey began in his backyard, mentored by his older brother, and has since evolved into coaching elite athletes and business leaders. Ian's commitment to sports and personal development is evident in his roles as a performance coach and active community member. Through "Sport Is Life," Ian shares inspiring stories and valuable lessons to help listeners apply sports principles to all areas of life.
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Transcript
When you experience setbacks, do you
Speaker:focus on the negatives? Do you focus on
Speaker:the obstacles of all the things that
Speaker:could go wrong? Or do you look for the
Speaker:positives? Do you find
Speaker:the reasons why you can come back?
Speaker:Sport is full of stories of teams and
Speaker:individuals overcoming insurmountable
Speaker:odds. I'm going to share 1 today and
Speaker:share some lessons on how you can bring
Speaker:that to your day to day life.
Speaker:I'm Ian Hawkins and this is Sporty's
Speaker:life. The purpose of sport, as I
Speaker:see it, is to see your vision become a
Speaker:reality, find your voice, create
Speaker:strong connections and learn to trust
Speaker:your body.
Speaker:So I want to share with you a story
Speaker:and from that story you're going to learn
Speaker:how important it is to have a focus on
Speaker:the positive and to focus on
Speaker:what you want, not to avoid what you
Speaker:don't want. Now, some of my closer mates
Speaker:who listen to this podcast, they're going
Speaker:to laugh at me here and maybe even take
Speaker:the piss a bit because when we talk about
Speaker:my team, who's been languishing in the
Speaker:lower. Of the English football leagues
Speaker:for way too long. Relegated
Speaker:from the Premier League in the early
Speaker:2000s and it's been a long drop.
Speaker:A bit of yo yoing between League 1
Speaker:Championship and it's continued but
Speaker:at the end of the 2223 season.
Speaker:They narrowly avoided automatic
Speaker:promotions of the Championship. And then
Speaker:went into the playoff and in the first
Speaker:leg everything that could have gone wrong
Speaker:did and everything that could have gone
Speaker:wrong right. Sorry for their opponents.
Speaker:Port Vale did and after that first leg
Speaker:they were down 4 nil. I think for most
Speaker:fans, most people in football would think
Speaker:that the ties over, move on, go
Speaker:home for the return leg and put a put
Speaker:on a brave showing and try and get some
Speaker:pride back. But that's not what happened
Speaker:behind the scenes and.
Speaker:What I have since learned that the
Speaker:manager and his team, so that's Darren
Speaker:Moore. Who's?
Speaker:Managerial career has been full of
Speaker:last day survivals and promotions. One of
Speaker:those managers that seems to thrive in
Speaker:that area of football.
Speaker:And what he did was he
Speaker:worked on their mindset for the week.
Speaker:They didn't do a heap of training, but
Speaker:most of what they did was focusing on.
Speaker:Two things. And one of them was
Speaker:watching every possible
Speaker:fantastic football comeback that they
Speaker:could find. And they watch these
Speaker:comebacks and they watch the momentum
Speaker:build and they watched how when
Speaker:when things are going well that the other
Speaker:team starts getting nervous and, and they
Speaker:learn so much from that experience. And
Speaker:they talked about it after the fact, how
Speaker:positive they were, how much they spent
Speaker:on their mindset, their their belief that
Speaker:they could. That they could
Speaker:claw their way back from this four nil
Speaker:deficit. And I
Speaker:remember tuning in with not much hope and
Speaker:I was only, I wasn't even watching it
Speaker:fully. I was kind of getting ready to go
Speaker:to work and we're getting ready for the
Speaker:day. I actually can't remember what I had
Speaker:on that day and watching it on my phone
Speaker:and, and then sort of missing bits and
Speaker:then and then they suddenly they, they
Speaker:scored late in the first half and then
Speaker:and they scored again and suddenly it's
Speaker:on and, and they end up. Getting
Speaker:back. Right near the end of
Speaker:the game to four all and take it to extra
Speaker:time incredible comeback and and all the
Speaker:things that they witnessed happened again
Speaker:one of the one of the games that they
Speaker:they watched was the the Liverpool
Speaker:comeback in the Champions League final
Speaker:when they. Were down 3 nil 1/2
Speaker:timeand you know, we've heard the
Speaker:stories of the stirring speeches and
Speaker:Stevie G basically once a manager had
Speaker:left and and just telling them what they
Speaker:were going to do and and how they were
Speaker:going to win this game. And
Speaker:yeah, and so they experienced that
Speaker:euphoric rise. Only two can
Speaker:see the goal in the in extra time to
Speaker:even be down to 5, four. And I remember
Speaker:just thinking, isn't that just typical of
Speaker:Wednesdays to get themselves back from a
Speaker:four nil deficit only to lose 5 for an
Speaker:extra time? But then, as history will
Speaker:show, they they managed to.
Speaker:Get the equaliser, win on penalties and
Speaker:then in 120 minutesthe following week in
Speaker:the playoff final they they won. Actually
Speaker:it was more like 123 minutesthey won
Speaker:deep into extra time. To go up into the
Speaker:championship. But the
Speaker:important part was that they focused
Speaker:on what they could do,
Speaker:the belief, the positivity,
Speaker:and then looking for examples of
Speaker:success to follow to
Speaker:emulate. When you look at change, change
Speaker:management. I've got a book down there,
Speaker:the the bright blue one just around
Speaker:about here for those watching the video,
Speaker:it's called Switch. And one of the things
Speaker:I talk about is searching for bright
Speaker:spots. And that's my alarm to
Speaker:put out the bins. So apologies for that.
Speaker:Carry on. We'll cut that bit out. Or
Speaker:actually probably won't. Yeah, to
Speaker:focus on the bright spots and you rather
Speaker:than going. And here's all the things we
Speaker:did wrong. It was like, no, no, let's,
Speaker:let's search for bright spots. They they
Speaker:search for their own bright spots of, of
Speaker:what they knew they did well, what were
Speaker:their strengths? What would happen when
Speaker:they got momentum. And of course, they
Speaker:searched for bright spots of other
Speaker:examples of why they could overcome this
Speaker:deficit, why they could make this
Speaker:comeback. And so wherever you're at in
Speaker:your life at the moment. Are you
Speaker:doing the same? Are you focusing on all
Speaker:the things that are going wrong? Are you
Speaker:focusing on all the all the
Speaker:obstacles of all the things that are
Speaker:going to stop you? Or are you looking for
Speaker:bright spots? Are you looking to find
Speaker:that belief? Are you looking for
Speaker:something to emulate areas of
Speaker:success that you can follow,
Speaker:that you can model, that you can copy to
Speaker:start heading in the right direction?
Speaker:And as you know, sport is littered with
Speaker:these great examples. Of how
Speaker:you can overcome
Speaker:insurmountable odds, and they do it
Speaker:through belief through.
Speaker:Will mostly
Speaker:from that perspective of let's just see
Speaker:how we go of having a crack and
Speaker:making sure that you've got that positive
Speaker:mindset, making sure that. Yeah,
Speaker:you, you, you realistically are
Speaker:open to good things happening because
Speaker:when you come from that perspective, then
Speaker:you give yourself the best opportunity.
Speaker:If in your head you are expecting the
Speaker:worse, if you're expecting things to go
Speaker:wrong, then more often than not, that's
Speaker:exactly what's going to happen.
Speaker:Everything that you do will
Speaker:be pushing out
Speaker:that energy. In your body language, in
Speaker:the words that you use, in the
Speaker:conversations you have. If you're already
Speaker:defeated at a logical
Speaker:level, at a subconscious level, then more
Speaker:often than not that's what's going to
Speaker:happen. But if you shift your mindset,
Speaker:you create a new belief. You focus on the
Speaker:positives and you find those bright spots
Speaker:to follow and you're giving yourself a
Speaker:fantastic choice. The power of positive
Speaker:expectation. It works. I've seen it
Speaker:time and time again. I've
Speaker:experienced it myself and.
Speaker:Yeah, as I said, you can find
Speaker:countless examples
Speaker:in the history of sport of how it works.
Speaker:Have you got your own comeback story? And
Speaker:is there something that you've already
Speaker:done that you've bought that
Speaker:positive attitude that you you emulated
Speaker:something I'd love to hear you sharing.
Speaker:Let me know. Maybe you've got a story
Speaker:yourself. Maybe you want to come on and
Speaker:be interviewed, Share your story, inspire
Speaker:other people? Yeah. Also let me know
Speaker:that. Have a great day.
Speaker:You've taken the time to listen to this
Speaker:whole episode. Now it's time to take
Speaker:action. Commit to one thing you've
Speaker:learned today and make it happen. And to
Speaker:avoid any obstructions, join the Sporty's
Speaker:Life movement by clicking on the link in
Speaker:the show notes.
