They are the only team in League Two not to have a loss. When Wellens arrived in March, the club was four points above the drop zone and hadn't won in three months.
Wellens reversed the trajectory immediately, showing promotion form in going five without a loss and winning seven of the final 11 games of the season. Six wins from seven. The belief is back.
Wellens says that confidence can change very quickly.
Everybody can be reinvented by one win. I believe that is what occurred.
How did he accomplish it?
He says he realized what he had in the building. Goals were scored in the team. Problems were not on the ball. We worked on being good off the ball in the first two or three weeks because we knew we had people who would score.
There is a logic to that. He was able to play with the team when the results didn't matter a lot. He says that it gave him valuable information for the future.
The summer was a good time to recruit.
Key players and quality were retained. Kelman was brought in using the loan market. He has 3 goals and 2 assists. He wouldn't swap his attacking players for anyone else.
You want players who can afford them. Signing players who the manager doesn't want is what happens if you don't have that. I wanted all of the players. It was data driven, but the final decision was mine.
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There was a possession game that Wellens went to. The chances of giving away a 10-yard pass are small. It is more risky to go to 20 yards. You are going to give the ball away a lot if you go 60 yards to the strikers.
He would like to play to the strengths of the team.
When we attack we look like scoring so I don't want to take that away from us by giving it to the goalkeeper. We don't want to do that We want to play fast. The balance needs to be gotten right.
It has been a difficult two years for Wellens since he won the League Two title, so to see him flourishing again is encouraging. His time at Doncaster was a struggle after he was sacked by Salford City.
There is a regret in leaving a division for a new one. It affected a lot of people in the area. I was in a difficult situation because of that. In retrospect, I made the wrong decision.
Circumstances were different at Doncaster. It was a car wreck. Recruitment was behind when we arrived. There were 17 trialists at the friendly we had atBradford. The injury situation was very bad.
He acknowledges that he is a better manager now than he was. He has learned from the negative experiences and has tangible reasons for making it. Wellens has completed his pro licence.
He says that you come out of that a better person.
I think I am an all-round better manager and communicator after completing that task earlier this year. There were things that I didn't like about my previous clubs.
I wouldn't get to the bottom of the problem if I moaned to my staff about something. I wouldn't let it go out. It's a huge improvement of mine. I think my relationships are better now.
There is a more mature approach.
As a manager, I have changed. I thought it was all about tactics and man- management. The day before the game, I take one session. The tactics will be done by me. I will delegate the sessions to the medical staff.
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The head of performance and medicine is being praised. When there is an injury, he will diagnose it quickly, put a timescale on it, and always bring them back to that timescale or even earlier, and when they come back they never break down."
He is thankful for his coaches and analyst. We have a darts competition in our office. Good people surround me. I would not want to work with better people.
He sees the award for August as a team effort. The award should be used for management of the month. Supporters want to know how far this will go.
Wellens says that it is a good start but nothing more.
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Before the season started, I was asked what my aims were and I didn't know what to say. I just wanted to see how the game is played. It's possible to win games and not see it. We won five of the first eight games, but only two of them were decided by one point.
There was no thinking behind it. It was not what I wanted to do when we went up and defended. The aim was to see performances improve and a better outcome. We are on the right path for that.
The team has more ways of winning than mine. If plan A wasn't working we had to get better at plan A. Power football can be played as well.
I connect with my team. If you sat me down and asked me what I wanted to see from my team, I would like what I see. 11 guys put everything into it and a bench with other people behind them.
The intensity is good and the reactions are great. You don't have to throw up your arms. The body language is clear and concise. There are no egotistical tendencies. We enjoy the way we are playing when we get the ball.
It seems that everyone is enjoying themselves at the moment.
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