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Rower Williams Joins Staff
Rower Williams Joins Staff
Tuesday, 3rd Jul 2012 16:22

Town have announced the appointment of double Olympic gold medal-winning rower Steve Williams to a consultancy role working with fitness coach Andy Liddell. Williams, 36, won gold in the coxless fours both in Athens in 2004 and at the 2008 Beijing Games.

Williams, who will focus on players’ fitness development and match preparation, also won gold at four World Championships before retiring in 2010. Last year he joined former Wales rugby union international, Richard Parks, in climbing and reaching the summit of Mount Everest.

Boss Paul Jewell told the club site: "The stats showed we were among the fittest sides in the Championship last season but it's important to explore every new angle of fitness and match preparation.

"Steve will work with individuals as well as the squad in general and brings with him a wealth of knowledge of competitive sport and what it takes to get to the very top.

"Having met Steve you can quickly see that he's highly motivated and I'm delighted he will be working with us. He will bring new ideas and I'm sure he will have a positive influence on the squad."


Williams, who was awarded the OBE in 2009, can’t wait to get going: "I'm really looking forward to working with the staff at Ipswich Town.

"There are many components in sport to getting individuals and a team in the best condition and I'm confident the experiences I have had in my career can be used as an asset to this football club."

Photos: Action Images/ITFC


Photo: Action Images



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Michael11 added 16:27 - Jul 3
Go on then Steve give JET a bell and get him fit and firing for August!
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Langdon_Blue added 16:31 - Jul 3
Great idea to bring an Olympic rower in as a fitness coach, should be plain sailing next season, 'oar' maybe not.

I'll get my coat.
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positivity added 16:32 - Jul 3
bit of a step down from archbishop of canterbury...
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AbujaBlue added 16:33 - Jul 3
This is a good move, and given his Olympic background masterminded by Clegg? I wouldn't be surprised.
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raycrawfordswig added 16:34 - Jul 3

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kerryblue added 16:36 - Jul 3
Hopefully he will get the lead out of most of their lazy backsides and get them fit and competitive
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BlueBadger added 16:40 - Jul 3
And once again, ITFC recruits another individual who is clearly not a Football Man.

Disgrace.
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wiggy71 added 16:42 - Jul 3
And there was me thinking we were up the creek without a paddle
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Gilesy added 16:42 - Jul 3
The above comment is a load of rollocks.
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SitfcB added 16:42 - Jul 3
Yep I agree BlueBadger.

We need football men at this football club.

Unbelievable.
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bluelady added 16:42 - Jul 3
Hopefully will help with some of that 'born to win' mentallity that at times we were missing badly last season! fitness is as much about physical as it is about mental wellbeing.
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DanTheMan added 16:43 - Jul 3
If only we had a football man in charge, this sort of ridiculousness would not happen.

CLEGG OUT!!
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Garv added 16:44 - Jul 3
Very interesting appointment. Can only be a good thing surely?
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Tractorog added 16:56 - Jul 3
Fitness coach... not the footballing skills coach.
Some of you would have more credibility if you picked your battles instead of finding spurious fault with everything.
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rosseden added 17:06 - Jul 3
agree Garv..... Rowing as a sport requires super high fitness levels, this can only be a good thing....... hes young enough too, which will help when relating to players.......
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RegencyBlue added 17:08 - Jul 3
The guy clearly knows a lot about fitness but then so do a lot of people!

The question is, can he have an impact in a football club environment and there is precious little information in the background provided thus far to come to a view one way or the other.

From a public relations point of view though Clegg scores another potential 'own goal'. This can quite easily, rightly or wrongly, be portrayed as 'jobs for the boys' from his Olympics days!

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tractorblue99 added 17:12 - Jul 3
Lets hope he does some goodwork at PORTman road OAR we will struggle to beat HULL
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rosseden added 17:14 - Jul 3
too all the people moaning about him not being from a footballing background.... do you think its poor management to have a Darren Cambell or Mark Lewis Francis in as a fitness & sprint coach? Being their not football or Rugby background?
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FriskinPriskin1 added 17:34 - Jul 3
What's he like in goal?
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wideblue added 17:37 - Jul 3
I'd like to think that the negative comments are tongue-in-cheek, but past experience would suggest not.


This has the potential to be a great appointment - a bit of lateral thinking for a change.

Successful coaches will draw on expertise from many different sports, rather than getting stuck in the same old routine. For example, Stuart Lancaster (England Rugby - for those of you who only follow football!) and Stuart Pearce (I'm presuming most will have heard of him?) have attended and taken part in each other's training sessions.


As for 'Clegg scores another potential own goal' - if it is 'jobs for the boys' then great, the GB rowing team are one of the best organised, most successful sporting teams this country has produced.

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blues1 added 17:38 - Jul 3
how predictable is it that there are people moaning he not from a football background or regencysblues comment of jobs for the boys? the guy is a fitness coach. rowers are among the fittest sportsmen around so he clearly knows his job. pj is a football man, & im sure if he didnt feel this guy would be suitable he would have said so & this appointment would not have happened. really amazes me that whatever this club does to try to advance & achieve its targets, there are people out there who have to criticise. besides, just because he was a rower doesnt mean he knows nothing about football. just as just because s. clegg was with the olympic association doesnt mean he knows nothing about football. but that doesnt matter to the contingent of fans on here who want to do nothing but moan.
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rosseden added 17:39 - Jul 3
wise words wideblue..... unfortunatly the noisey minority of moronic 'supporters' dont tend to 'think' about many things......
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Big_Foot_Blue added 17:41 - Jul 3
Blimey guys calm down! I've had the honour of meeting a couple of olympians through some sporting projects and they are really amazing people to be around and talk to. The mentality they have to be a success at the olympics is unbelieveable, to be a success there you have to effectively give up your life for a whole four years and that kind of mentality can only help the match preparation side of our team. As for fitness, he won the highest sporting accolade anybody can ever achieve... TWICE! in one of the most demanding sporting disciplines so may well know a thing or two about that! Why don't we show appreciation that the club is trying to cover every base possible rather than automatically find something negative about it!?!?!
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Mark added 17:46 - Jul 3
Yep, the players arms will be in great shape for next season! :-)

Let's hope he adds something to the club.

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AbujaBlue added 17:46 - Jul 3
The only reason why people are moaning is because of the name 'Clegg' drifting around this story and people want to rubbish it.

Seriously, get a grip!
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