'It was massive' - Chesterfield manager James Rowe on how time at Johan Cruyff Institute has influenced his management career

The Blues boss studied for a master’s degree in coaching in 2016 in Amsterdam and Rowe told the DT that it was different to other courses in the UK.

“It was more about you as an individual, you as a human being, what your values are, what do you stand for, what are you non negotiables, when someone breaks a non negotiable how would you manage that, but also what your fears are, what are your self doubts and how do you overcome them. So it was more about management than coaching. It was more about finding yourself and who you are and being strong in believing in yourself.”

Interestingly, the 37-year-old revealed that he still keeps in touch with his course mentor, Maarten van Heeswijk, who is a Dutch hockey coach.

“He is a close friend now and we talk regularly and he gives a different perspective perhaps than someone who is a football coach,” Rowe said, adding that he learnt the importance of building relationships with different coaches in different sports.

“There are different segments for a coach,” he explained. “You have different competencies and that certainly gave me that competency. It was massive.”

The former West Ham United and Birmingham City youth coach’s impressive CV also includes a sports science master’s degree from Nottingham Trent University.

Rowe explained the thinking behind that qualification was so that he can understand the workings of the analysis and medical teams.

At Chesterfield, he will work closely with fitness coach Tom Skupien and match analyst Dan Evans.

"Tom is obviously doing some fantastic sports science work for us and Dan does the analysis so I can talk to him about what clips I want and what he thinks and I can hopefully be on a level with him that he can have a good conversation with me,” Rowe added. “I know what he is doing - because i know how to clip games myself - so it is important

“Analysis is multi-functional work and a big part of the game now at the highest level and it is important that we work as a multi-functional team.”