Doncaster Rovers coach Danny Schofield on reflecting on his Huddersfield Town sacking with a psychologist, using his wife as a sounding board and building an identity

Schofield took over at his hometown club on Thursday, drew 1-1 at Crewe Alexandra on Saturday and has his first home game, against Stevenage, on Tuesday.

The 42-year-old, who played for the Terriers and Rotherham United, joined Huddersfield's coaching staff after spells with Leeds United and Middlesbrough and was marked out as a future head coach.

He got his chance when Carlos Corberan resigned in pre-season, but was sacked after nine matches.

So someone who speaks a lot about "culture", "environment" and "identity" will have to be wary of juggling that with quick results at a club which expects promotion this season but has catching up to do.

Although only out of work 36 days, Schofield is adamant he used them to come back a better coach.

"I took ten to 14 days disconnected because emotionally it was quite tough," he admits. "Then I spent a week intensely reflecting with a guy called Matt Toms, who you could call a psychologist or more like a strategist in terms of planning and reviewing processes. Matt works at Huddersfield one day a week.

"He took me through how to reflect correctly. It was something I really enjoyed. It was difficult but I think I learnt a lot.

"(At Town) I think I learnt about players – the ones that aren't featuring. You have to pay attention to them off the field in terms of analysis because there's only so many hours you can do on it. The way you're passing your message on is something I'm continuing to learn."

Not that Toms is the only person he pores over his performance with.

"I always go home and reflect with my wife on the games," he reveals. "She's bored to tears about me talking about football but she sits there and listens – or pretends to! I reflect with her, then the players.

"She sometimes challenges me in terms of my behaviours on the touchline when I get too excited. She doesn't come to too many games because I think she gets nervous.

"It's very difficult to disconnect from this job and something I've done better in this short spell than at Huddersfield. On Sunday I had an hour away from it, which was a lot for me, before I was reviewing the footage preparing for Stevenage."

Schofield describes himself as "very process-driven" and is very big on identity. That takes time to create but he believes he has a head-start.

"There's good foundations," he argues. "(Director of football) James Coppinger's done a fantastic job to create that. I get the feel of a good environment, a positive energy – things you can't see but feel. That's the foundation to build an identity.

"Huddersfield was very short-term for me but I took a lot of positives in terms of how the team were playing. The things we were doing on the training pitch, the analysis, I did see signs of that in the games but it's a results-driven business and we weren't winning games. I totally understood that then and now.

"It's down to the club and the owners how much time they want to give to see progression and growth. The only thing I can control is what I'm doing every day trying to put processes in place to achieve my vision."