Town boss Paul Jewell was delighted with the fitness levels shown by his players on the first day of pre-season training yesterday. The squad were given individual programmes for the summer months with Michael Chopra spending time at a $4,500-a-week health farm in California and Jay Emmanuel-Thomas spending time working on his running in London.
Jewell said: "We’ve tested all the players this morning and their fitness levels have really pleased me. I didn’t expect them not to be good, but they’ve surprised me with the amount of work that they’ve done.
"They’ve been away, they’ve had their programmes and they’ve had to adhere to them because they all have the heart monitors now that check up on what they’re doing and where they are. I’m really pleased with the shape the squad has come back in.”
He expects the squad to be fitter than ever come the start of the new campaign: "Pre-season is a time where it’s all about hard work and preparing for a hard season. We’ve had Michael Chopra who has been on a sabbatical and Jay Emmanuel-Thomas has had 18 sessions with a speed-endurance guy in London.
"We’re expecting more from them this year as well with the addition of [double Olympic rowing gold medallist] Steve Williams. Even though he’s not a player, I think he might be a really good signing for us.”
Mark Kennedy, who has joined the coaching staff after hanging up his boots at the end of last season, missed out on the delights of the first day of pre-season as a player, something Jewell says he is glad to have put behind him: "I was saying to Sparky earlier that the only time I time I don’t miss being a footballer is pre-season.
"Having said all that, there’s nothing quite like the way everyone will feel after the session - when you’ve just had a shower when you’ve worked your socks off.
"It’s a lot easier stood around the pitch with a stopwatch while everybody’s running, but the way Sparky’s last year was it’s not too much different!”