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davieG

Pre-season Training 2017

By davieG, in Leicester City Forum

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davieG

davieG

Posted
Posted

The team are back on Monday to start their pre-season preparations.

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A little reminder from the Merc of  how it was back in the day.

 

Leicester City's players return to pre-season training on Monday after their summer break.

But what they are about to face will be very different to what City players of yesteryear had to go through to be ready for the new season.

Fitness and conditioning coaches will be using all the latest sports science theory and techniques to get Craig Shakespeare's men in tip-top shape for the demands of the new Premier League season.

GPS vests and other technologies will be used to map the players' performance and fitness levels and they will even be working with footballs from day one.


ShiltonBradgate

Peter Shilton leads the Leicester City squad on their pre-season run through Bradgate Park in 1969

 

It is in stark contrast to the pre-seasons in the 1970s and 1980s, under Jimmy Bloomfield and Jock Wallace.

"I remember we didn't see a ball for the first week and it was all long running," recalls defender Tommy Williams, who joined the club straight from school in 1974.

"I started when Jimmy Bloomfield was the manager and we went running around Bradgate Park and up and down Old John.

"With Jimmy everyone went up to Bradgate Park together on a bus, the apprentices and the senior pros. I had just left school and I was rubbing shoulders with Frank Worthington, Steve Whitworth and Keith Weller, who were internationals. It was brilliant for me.


Bradgate%20runners.jpg

Worthington, Shilton, Sammels, Weller and Birchenall building fitness at Bradgate Park

 

"I will always remember the Mercury used to send a photographer down for the first day of training, as we were running around the park, and Mark Wallington was always at the front.

"The only reason was because he used to sprint the first 100 yards to get to the front and, as soon as they had taken the photo, that was it. You wouldn't see him again. He did it every single year."

While Bloomfield had his players running around Bradgate Park, Wallace's training methods were based on his military training with the King's Own Scottish Borderers before he came into football management.

Those training methods had worked wonders at Rangers, which led them to two domestic trebles before his arrival at City, in 1978.

 

So his first pre-season training saw the entire squad, including Gary Lineker, Steve Kember, Steve Sims and goalkeeper Wallington, running up and down the steep sand and gravel banks of Wanlip quarry, near Birstall, as they prepared for their Division Two campaign.

"It was interesting," added Williams, who now works with adults with learning difficulties in Leicestershire and is a regular visitor to the King Power Stadium.

"I think we only did it once or twice. He used to take his Rangers team to the seaside and run them along the beach, so I think he was trying to replicate that.

"It was hard work running up and down the sand hills but I was 19 and 20 so I just got on with it.


Wanlip%20hill.jpg

Jock Wallace supervises the training from the top of one of the sand dunes
 

"The lads embraced it and enjoyed it. It was something different.

"Jock used to like going to Sweden or Scotland in pre-season as well. There was a lot of running with Jock but it wasn't long distance. It was much more short and sharp stuff. He was very good with the fitness.

"I always felt that you don't feel properly fit until you have played three or four matches into the season.

"You can do as much running as you want but you need to play competitive games to get fit."

 

Striker Alan Young remembers when Wallace would take City back to his native Scotland for even more gruelling training sessions on the sands.

"I never actually went to Wanlip, but I do remember going to Scotland one year to a place at Gullane – and there were massive sand dunes there," Young previously told the Mercury.

"They were like mountains and we had a couple of days up there, and it was the hardest physical training I have ever had to do in my life.

"Everyone was physically sick and some were passing out. It is hard to describe it.

"But I remember a few of the lads had been to Wanlip and they said they wished they could go back to the quarry at Wanlip – it was that bad at Gullane.

 

Wanlip%20runners.jpg

City players run through the sand at Wanlip quarry
 

"I have seen footage of the Wanlip training and some of the players were interviewed afterwards.

"At Gullane, no-one was doing interviews because they couldn't talk, or walk, afterwards.

"Jock was famous for the fitness training. It was always very hard.

"He used to take Rangers to Gullane and they won several Scottish titles, so it worked.

"You wanted to do it, you wanted to be the best and he instilled that in you.

"If he wanted you to go that extra two or three yards, you always did."


Read more at http://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/tough-these-days-you-must-be-joking/story-30417895-detail/story.html#MVCYXpudYb8tzmV7.99

 

 

davieG

davieG

Posted
  • Author
Posted
21 minutes ago, Sambiasso said:

I swear they rehash the same story every year.

They do but I guess they'll still be plenty who haven't seen it. A bit like Foxestalk there's not much original stuff around.

davieG

davieG

Posted
  • Author
Posted

A total of 14 Leicester City stars reported back to the Club on Monday, as they were put through their paces during pre-season testing and training at Belvoir Drive.

- Leicester City’s first team squad reported for pre-season testing on Monday
- Foxes stars to train throughout the week at Belvoir Drive before heading to Austria for a pre-season training camp
- City’s international contingent to return to the Club later in the week

A total of 14 Leicester City stars reported back to the Club on Monday, as they were put through their paces during pre-season testing and training at Belvoir Drive.

The majority of the first team squad returned for a testing session in the morning and training in the afternoon, while those on international duty over the summer will reconvene later this week.

Monday’s returning contingent included City new boy Harry Maguire, skipper Wes Morgan and youngster Harvey Barnes, who finished as the Toulon Tournament’s top scorer after helping England Under-20s retain their title this summer. 

Staff were hard at work on Monday in preparation for pre-season testing day.

A mild Belvoir Drive was the setting as preparations began for a pre-season schedule that sees the Foxes contest a total of seven fixtures, including two Premier League Asia Trophy matches.

First up is a six-day training camp in Austria, before two clashes out in Hong Kong are followed by friendly trips to Luton, MK Dons, Wolverhampton Wanderers and Burton Albion.

A fixture against Borussia Monchengladbach at King Power Stadium on Friday 4 August completes City’s pre-season schedule ahead of the 2017/18 Premier League curtain-raiser at Arsenal.

les-tah

les-tah

Posted
Posted
16 minutes ago, lgfualol said:

Why don't they tell us who turned up so my bored mind can speculate

Well Ndidi hasn't turned up cause hes watching films right now on his snapchat...

Guest Papasmurf

Guest Papasmurf

Posted
Posted
7 minutes ago, les-tah said:

Well Ndidi hasn't turned up cause hes watching films right now on his snapchat...

Strange he would be given extra time off?

Ric Flair

Ric Flair

Posted
Posted

Imagine if football was like most jobs and you got a set amount of annual leave. Gray and Chiwell wouldn't be back until about September ?

StanSP

StanSP

Posted
Posted
3 hours ago, tom27111 said:

I presumed Wes would be the Jamaica squad for the Gold Cup, but he isn't. 

 

Anyone know why?

more time off after being injured at the end of the season

filbertstreet

filbertstreet

Posted
Posted
9 minutes ago, KFS said:

Who's 31 in those pics? 

Shinji and Fuchs are 31 but I didn't see them in the pictures

 

(Which picture has a player number 31? I only saw Harvey Barnes but he's number 32 in the pictures :|)

StanSP

StanSP

Posted
Posted
1 minute ago, filbertstreet said:

Shinji and Fuchs are 31 but I didn't see them in the pictures

 

(Which picture has a player number 31? I only saw Harvey Barnes but he's number 32 in the pictures :|)

the one that Harry Maguire is staring lovingly in to...

KFS

KFS

Posted
Posted
1 minute ago, filbertstreet said:

Shinji and Fuchs are 31 but I didn't see them in the pictures

 

(Which picture has a player number 31? I only saw Harvey Barnes but he's number 32 in the pictures :|)

Wonderful.

 

Hes talking to Maguire in one of the pictures- he looks like Sam Clucas!

filbertstreet

filbertstreet

Posted
Posted
2 minutes ago, KFS said:

Wonderful.

 

Hes talking to Maguire in one of the pictures- he looks like Sam Clucas!

 

2 minutes ago, StanSP said:

the one that Harry Maguire is staring lovingly in to...

oh aye, is that callum elder (or the new guy we signed from nonleague)?

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