Rich reveals what happened during the first week of pre-season back at the London Colney training facility. Read his thoughts on the latest transfer news - and hop over to his new keeper coaching site as well!
Plenty to talk about this week as we return to training and the transfer speculation increases.
We reported back to our London Colney training ground on Wednesday after having the best part of eight weeks away. Wednesday consisted of a variety of fitness tests devised by the new team of physios and returning fitness coach Martyn Pert.
The tests ranged from fat percentage tests, to 7x340m runs and then plenty of drills in the gym, including how many pull-ups we were able to complete and how heavy we could lift on the bench press. All these tests are designed to give the staff an indication of where we are in regards to out fitness and pre-season is then structured in such a way that it’ll start relatively light before building up and hopefully having us in peak condition for August 8th.
It has changed quite a lot from years gone by where you could expect to be doing long arduous runs on day one but, with the advances in sports science, it seems those days are long gone (thank god!).
Thursday and Friday were footballing sessions; they were tough without being ridiculous and I also think the heatwave we had was taken into consideration by the staff. The plan was then to have the weekend off before hitting the ground running next week. Next week will consist of double sessions every day before our first friendly on Saturday at Boreham Wood FC.
The other big news this week was that we had a bid accepted from an unknown club for Tommy Smith. We now know that club is Sheffield United and it turns out they have also made an offer for John-Joe too. It’ll be a massive shame if either of those lads were to leave but, as a squad, we are all fully aware of the situation the club finds itself in - so we know there’ll be a few more lads to leave before that first game against Doncaster. It goes without saying, though, that we are all hopeful that both Tom and John-Joe will still be around then.
There was also the surprising news that Stuart Searle won’t be with us this season. Although many of the fans won’t know Stuart all that well, I’ve been sharing an apartment with him for the past six months or so, so I was sad to hear that he’d decided to mutually end his contract. I think it was simply a case of wanting to play so he’s decided to try other avenues; he’s a top keeper so I’m sure he’ll do well and I wish him luck.
So as I mentioned, a tough week ahead and a game on Saturday. I’m sure i’ll have plenty more to speak about next Monday so I’ll look forward to reporting on that.
On a separate note, I have created another website for the goalkeeping school that I will be running as of september. If you fancy becoming a goalkeeper - or you already are and want to hone those skills - please feel free to visit my site www.goalkeepingguru.com.
Cheers for now,
Rich