Town’s players will get their revenge on the 7th Parachute Regiment Royal Horse Artillery for last summer’s two-day army camp when the soldiers pay a visit to the club on Wednesday. Their day with the Blues is part of the preparations for Sunday’s Help for Heroes Day.
Skipper Jon Walters and defender Gareth McAuley will welcome the soldiers to Playford Road ahead of a training session with Town reserves coach Steve Foley.
Walters hopes that Foley, who joined the players for the gruelling pre-season trip to Colchester Garrison, will give them a taste of their own medicine: "It’s payback time! Hopefully Steve will make them work and then make them work some more!”
Chief executive Simon Clegg is an ambassador for Help for Heroes, the Football League’s charity of the year, and Sunday’s game against Sheffield United on Sunday will feature a number of related events. More than 800 soldiers from 16 Air Assault Brigade and 1st Battalion Royal Anglians will be at the game as guests of the club.
Prior to the match, there will be displays of a mobile field hospital, a small arms static display from the Parachute Regiment and a light artillery gun, while the Parachute Regiment Band will perform on the pitch. There will also be a flypast by an Apache helicopter.