"I found in management that after a match, nearly all the opposing managers I came in contact with would only talk about their own team - only their own team, win, lose or draw.
"I remember playing Man United when I was at West Brom and we beat them 4-0. On the day we played very well.
"Man United's then manager Tommy Docherty said: 'It'll do [my players] good. It's a kick up the backside.'
"There was no 'well done, your team played very well'. It's their team and they don't look at anything else. They're obsessed with their own team. It's their team but they don't see beyond that and they have to be looking for the positives - unless they got beaten 6-0.
"But we might beat Man United and Tommy Docherty was looking for the positives, in that, 'it'll do them good'.
"You can only look at your own team and you'll certainly know if they've played well or not. And if they've been beaten 4-0, they'll know something has gone wrong somewhere. But there has to be a positive side to it all the time, and in my day it was the same.
"It's the same today and Jose Mourinho said Chelsea played really well, particularly in the first half [against Swansea]. Well, I didn't see it and I think it's a fault as well because if you don't recognise that the team hasn't played well, how do you put tit right?
"You don't have to be too severe. That's where former Manchester United manager Matt Busby was great. When I played with Busby, after a match if we were beaten 3-0 he never got onto the players.
"He held his tongue because it's a no-win situation as everyone is very, very tense and excited after a match, particularly if they lose 3-0 and they haven't played well because the things you say after a match like that can't take back what's happened.
Matt Busby (PA Photos / PA Archive/PA Images)
"That's where Busby was very wise. I didn't play in good Manchester United sides - we were beaten quite a few times. We'd be beaten 3-0 at Old Trafford and he might be mad but he wouldn't show it.
"I've played under other managers who would come in and say 'you were terrible'. Say it's the Wednesday night and they're playing again on the Saturday and he says 'go out there, full of confidence, you're great players' - the players will be thinking 'two days ago you were telling us we were terrible'.
"The managers lie to themselves and kid themselves. But I always felt it was best to be realistic.
"I'd a thing with Bobby Robson. We played Ipswich and I was West Brom manager. Ipswich were a very good team. It was my birthday and we were beaten 7-0. They were brilliant.
"It was only three months later and we were playing the return match at the Hawthorns and they were going for the championship and we beat them 4-0.
"Bobby wasn't a good loser and he came up and said: 'You wouldn't believe how you could dominate a team for 70 minutes and lose 4-0.' We scored four in the last 20 minutes. He couldn't take it.
"I honestly coming up to him - and I was pretty new to management - I thought he'd come up and say 'well done John, you got a bit of your own back there'. But he said nothing. Nothing.
"And managers, even now, when they come off the pitch, very, very seldom say: 'The opposition played very well.'"
John was speaking on Off The Ball's Thursday Night Football
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