Phil Brown said that the team becomes your family, but warned his players of the dangers of social media in the light of the Manchester United situation, as he puts it.
Brown speaks about the digital age in his programme notes in Red Review and expanded on the topic in his pre-match presser – full version is available on iFollow.
“I spend more hours at work than I do at home, so the team is my family,” said Brown.
“When you do things that are hurtful to them, you wouldn’t do it to your own family – so why do it in the changing room?
“The changing room is a resourceful environment, and nobody can play the game as an individual – you have to be part of a team.
“That’s the most important factor. I want to help these players improve and get higher.
“The only way to do that is to park everything from 3pm until 5pm on a Saturday.
“The game from a sports-science point of view has changed immensely. If you stay in the old changing rooms you will get left behind.
“You have to move forward and embrace modern day technology, but use it for what it is.”
He takes an objective look at modern technology and says it has immeasurably changed since his first day in a football dressing room.
“Modern technology is global - it’s generic and in the system.
“I’m talking about mobile phones and social media. It’s the world that we live in now, and we can’t get rid of it. I’m not going to say ‘get rid of your phones’ because they are unfortunately – or fortunately – part and parcel of our lives.
“I feel the attitude towards mobile phones, social media and the outside world has opened up changing room doors a lot more than what they were.
“We’ve got to be careful with it and make sure we focus on our jobs.
“What I’m asking for is two hours of work on a Saturday. I’ve moved with the times. (In) my first changing room at Hartlepool United there was no such thing as a mobile phone.
“The first phone got launched and it was a brick, now the changing room doors are open to the outside world. That's music to the ears of the media, but not so much mine because I want that focus.”
