“C’MON wee man you have got one more run in you.”
The immortal phrase that will be barked out by coaches everywhere in the country right about now. Usually followed by said player busting a gut one last time and then duly throwing up. I know this from experience. I can still taste that sick in my mouth now.
As a kid at Hibs just breaking into the first team under Alex McLeish, I remember actually being split into pairs and doing 100 metre sprints with Didier Agathe.
Now everyone knows Agathe was lightning quick, but I was certainly no slouch myself pace-wise back in my pomp.
He had come in on trial as a striker and Big Eck had wound me up all morning by saying that he was coming in to take my place, saying: “you’ll never keep up with him Tam, he’s a flying machine.”
Now as any current or ex-pro will tell you, young boys take the bait very easily in situations like that. I was like Jaws on the gaffer’s line and as I burst myself over the first five or six runs going toe to toe with Didier, come the last few runs I was staggering towards the line and eventually ended up behind a bush spewing my guts up much to the amusement of the other boys. Certainly a lesson learned.
Yes, it is that time of year again for the footballer of all levels in Scotland. The dreaded pre-season training. But it is such a vital part of every player’s campaign. You really need to get through a full pre-season or you don’t have the same base level of fitness throughout the year and usually don’t have anywhere near as productive a season.
To be honest now, players look after themselves a lot better than they used to. Even going back 15-20 years, players would go away on the batter to Magaluf for a few weeks and come back to pre-season half a stone heavier.
You would then get battered for two weeks in terms of running and lose it again in time for the season starting. Players are now much more professional and certainly at the highest level, players don’t put an ounce of fat on.
There has also been a marked shift in how managers go about pre-season training and getting players fit and sharp. The fact players are in better shape means you don’t need to run them up and down sand dunes or hills.
I have experienced both the hard way and the somewhat more enjoyable way of getting fit.My very first pre-season was as a 16-year-old at Hibs under Jim Duffy. It was also the day I nearly got lynched by some of the first team guys on my first day as a pro. Duff had popped his head in the youth dressing room at Easter Road that first morning and picked at random a young boy to go with him to Arthur’s Seat.
It was me. Lucky white heather again.
As we chatted in the car, he found out I was from the same neck of the woods as him in the north of Glasgow. Result, I thought. Wrong. We got out the car at the bottom of these steps that seemed to go up and on forever.
He told me to sprint as fast as I could to the top and back. Remember that bait? Well I was hooked again and flew up and back like Trap three. “Right Tam that will do,” he said as he stuck his stopwatch away in his pocket.
As the whole squad gathered in groups an hour later, Duffy told them the time they had to get up and down in. Times 10. As guys like Yogi Hughes and Pat McGinley slogged up and down those punishing steps, the manager’s ‘times’ were soon being questioned rigorously. “Gaffer this is a joke, where did you get these f*****g times from?” growled a raging,
topless Yogi, muscles bulging,veins popping out his napper.
I glanced nervously at Duffy as we rested at the bottom after five punishing runs praying he wouldn’t shop me. He stuck me right in it.
“Listen lads, don’t blame me. See that wee boy over there? He’s just out of school and cruised up there in the time saying it was a doodle.”
I nearly wet myself. The first-team boys collectively turned round and started giving me dog’s abuse for being ‘busy’. Later that day we did hill runs on the side of Arthur’s Seat and Duff dragged a vomit-covered Barry Lavety through rocks up the hill to the finish line as he had chucked it mid-run. I just wanted my mammy after my first day!
Tony Mowbray’s pre-season at Hibs was the complete opposite. Usually your boots are not required for at least the first 4 or 5 days of pre-season, but the first day we had the balls out and the boots on.
We couldn’t believe it. Everything was done with the ball. I can’t remember many runs without ball work involved. The 100 metre runs were done with the ball at our feet. We played small-sided games on a big pitch with no hiding place and no chance to have a breather or drop your player. It was still very hard work, but made so much more enjoyable the fact we had the ball. Disguised running, if you like.
That feeling of pushing each other through a tough day is what builds the team spirit within a dressing room. That is what every manager will be looking to harness now.
With not a sick bag in sight.
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