Town boss Paul Lambert has confirmed he is planning a pre-season trip to Germany, as TWTD reported a month ago, but played down the chances of a game against his former side Borussia Dortmund.
"I lived there so I know what the country’s like and I know the standards,” he said when asked about the planned trip. "There aren’t many distractions where we go.
"It’s just pure work. I don’t like any distractions or anything like that. It’s one of those ones where you go and you do the work and you work and work and you try and get everything ingrained in their heads and hopefully you get a quick start.”
Lambert has previously taken his Norwich, Aston Villa and Wolves to Germany for pre-season but, unlike his predecessor Mick McCarthy who took his squad to the same venue in Ireland annually, Carton House in Co Kildare, there’s not a particular facility he favours.
"It’s not the same one where I’ve been before, there are people I know over there who help organise it and the guys have been really good, so that’s no problem,” he added.
Inevitably, the news that the Blues were off to Germany led to speculation that Lambert’s former club Borussia Dortmund and Fortuna Dusseldorf would be potential friendly opponents, however, Lambert played down the likelihood of facing the team with which he won the Champions League in 1997.
"They can speculate all they want!” he laughed. "We’re trying to get games. We’ll try and get games over there.
"Borussia Dortmund is extreme because of the size of the club and everything and the commitments it’s got, Asia or America or wherever they go.
"Because it’s my old club everybody thinks [that might happen], but it doesn’t work like that. It’s a club that was an unbelievable football club for me and gave me great times and I have a great connection with it.
"But I think there’s a bit of a difference of level there with Borussia Dortmund, that’s no disrespect to us, you’re talking one of the iconic clubs in Europe.
"Fortuna Düsseldorf’s a great club with a great fanbase behind it and I know it’s got a connection with here. But we’ll try and get some games.”