The Town squad will be back at Playford Road this morning for the start of pre-season training. The first day shouldn’t come as too much of a shock to the system with the players having been given individual fitness programmes for the summer months with plenty of players already having spent time back at the club and striker Michael Chopra at a $4,500-a-week health retreat in California.
Fitness coach Andy Liddell will be joined by Olympic Gold medal-winning rower Steve Williams, who joined the club as a consultant earlier in the week, with manager Paul Jewell wanting his squad fitter than ever for the season ahead.
The Blues’ only new signing of the summer, right-back Elliott Hewitt, won’t be involved as he is recuperating from the hip operations he underwent while with Macclesfield.
Central defender Luke Chambers is yet to complete his move to Town, while French-Guinean free agent Cheick Kourouma is understood to be at the club but with red tape preventing him from signing on the dotted line.
Town need agreements in place with his former clubs Genoa CFC Primavera, Real Zaragoza and Sochaux as development compensation is due (although none is likely to be paid) as he is below 23 years of age, as well as international clearance. However, the 19-year-old may still join in with his prospective new team-mates.
Striker Jason Scotland will be back at the club and will sign his new one-year contract as a matter of course.
We expect the Blues squad to be joined by the regular handful of eager trialists looking to win contracts ahead of the new season.
Town’s first pre-season friendly is in Holland against Helmond Sport on Tuesday 17th July. A full list of pre-season fixtures can be found here.
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