I can tell you now that, whoever you are playing, if you get beaten – and especially beaten heavily like Coventry were by Brighton on Sunday – then it resonates with you. It’s the same for every manager.
For Frank, whether it is losing at home to Hull or Brighton, or against Arsenal and Manchester City, then it will hurt.
But it is how he deals with those defeats that will decide what happens next.
Being the leader of a group of young men, you cannot look washed out and empty on a Monday morning after a heavy loss.
Yes, inside you will be hurting and your pride will be taking a bashing but everyone at the club will be waiting for your reaction, and will act accordingly.
Walking into the training ground in a dark mood and with your head around your backside just does not work, irrespective of what you are feeling inside.
I’ve been in that situation many times myself as a manager and what you have to do is puff your chest out and find a way of getting everyone back on track and working even harder with a set focus on the next game.
That’s what all good leaders do. It is draining at times, but that is why managing your time and prioritising the issues that you can resolve is so important.
When I took Stoke up to the Premier League in 2008, I was learning on my feet.
We did not make a great start and I had to roll my sleeves up and get on with what I’d got in my squad, and really focus on getting results.
But away from that I was always forward thinking and I was quick at recognising what was needed to improve our chances of staying up.
When the window opened again in January, we were already in discussions with Tottenham for Matty Etherington, to supply us with crosses and chances from the wing.
We needed more goals too, so I took James Beattie from Sheffield United. They were a Championship side but that didn’t matter because he had a record of scoring goals in the top flight.
We have heard so much about recruiting the right players in the right positions, and it is true today as it was in my day. Both lads played a significant role in keeping us up.
Coventry haven’t scored a goal yet, and people might look in from the outside and feel the forward areas are an issue for them because the usual thinking is that the centre-forward has to lead the scoring charts, or a wide player or the number 10.
But the emphasis is on everyone to chip in and I would also reinforce one of the points I made in this column last season, about the importance of defending properly too.
On average, clean sheets earn you more points than scoring a goal, which is something I always stressed to my players. Nailing down the importance of both ends of the pitch is the narrative, whatever kind of run of results you are on, because games are won and lost there.
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