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Everyone, it seems, has an opinion on how Wanderers have managed their pre-season training schedules this summer – but only one man is really qualified to judge.
The club has come in for some unwarranted and wholly unwelcome criticism from some quarters for pushing their players hard in the Austrian hills over the last few weeks.
To most Wanderers fans, the eccentric tweets of Raymond Verheijen, sitting alongside a promotional cover shot of his new book, were viewed as a cheap shot.
But for one – Mark Leather, the head of sport performance at the Macron Stadium – they may have been particularly galling.
An experienced and highly-rated physio with the likes of Liverpool, Sunderland and Wigan Warriors RLFC, Leather retuned as part of a new-look medical staff under Dougie Freedman in 2013 for a second stint with his boyhood club.
As the middle man between medical and sports science departments, Leather liaises with the coaching department to tailor the club’s pre-season preparations.
And while not wishing to be drawn into a war of words with Dutchman Verheijen, who has also taken aim on several other clubs just recently, Leather has taken steps to let Whites fans know that every exercise the players undertake this season has been carefully mapped out.
“There’s a principle called training overload, and it’s one that is often ignored because there’s a risk,” he explained.
“By overloading the system you might run the risk of fatigue or potential injuries but if it’s an overload that’s well-thought out, structured and progressive, there is minimal risk.
“There’s an argument that if you don’t do enough there’s an equal if not greater risk of injury or fatigue by the fact you’ve not worked that little bit more.
“We want to move the lads out of their comfort zone. We want them to understand and want to work that little bit harder.
“It’s not written out on the back of a cigarette packet – it’s well-thought out and well structured. There are no guarantees but we know that those principles are very important, going some way to getting better results and keeping players on the pitch for longer periods.”
Neil Lennon has already spoken in public about the criticism Verheijen dished out – pointing to his track record as manager and player as proof that he knows a little bit about how to prepare a squad of players.
But the Whites boss is guided by his medical team, and the programme undertaken by the players in Austria was mapped out meticulously according to individual training data and past experience.
These days you are more likely to hear the beep of a computer monitoring a GPS vest than a bleep test at Euxton, with every details of a player’s performance uploaded and scrutinised in training and in competitive action.
The days of running round Rivington Pike four days a week are long gone – and while players have been called up for two or three sessions a day at times, Leather went to great length to point out that the club are using all the resources they can to make sure every aspect of fitness is being covered ahead of the new campaign.
“Variety is really important when you look at all the characteristics a professional footballer needs from running in a straight line, to changing direction, strength work, power work, balance, core strength, upper and lower body strength, aerobic fitness, there’s so many different components but they need to be addressed in a short window,” he said.
“If you don’t do it in the short window we’ve got now, you’ll never reach the levels that are required throughout the season.
“Practically, if in the world of ideals and utopia, you have one side, somewhere down the spectrum becomes the compromise and that’s what we need to do.
“And training twice a day, three times a day, it could mean a pool session in the morning, a football session later in the morning and a gym circuit in the afternoon, or some other form of activity.
“There is a variety there that covers the physical attributes but also helps to build a team spirit.”
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The club has come in for some unwarranted and wholly unwelcome criticism from some quarters for pushing their players hard in the Austrian hills over the last few weeks.
To most Wanderers fans, the eccentric tweets of Raymond Verheijen, sitting alongside a promotional cover shot of his new book, were viewed as a cheap shot.
But for one – Mark Leather, the head of sport performance at the Macron Stadium – they may have been particularly galling.
An experienced and highly-rated physio with the likes of Liverpool, Sunderland and Wigan Warriors RLFC, Leather retuned as part of a new-look medical staff under Dougie Freedman in 2013 for a second stint with his boyhood club.
As the middle man between medical and sports science departments, Leather liaises with the coaching department to tailor the club’s pre-season preparations.
And while not wishing to be drawn into a war of words with Dutchman Verheijen, who has also taken aim on several other clubs just recently, Leather has taken steps to let Whites fans know that every exercise the players undertake this season has been carefully mapped out.
“There’s a principle called training overload, and it’s one that is often ignored because there’s a risk,” he explained.
“By overloading the system you might run the risk of fatigue or potential injuries but if it’s an overload that’s well-thought out, structured and progressive, there is minimal risk.
“There’s an argument that if you don’t do enough there’s an equal if not greater risk of injury or fatigue by the fact you’ve not worked that little bit more.
“We want to move the lads out of their comfort zone. We want them to understand and want to work that little bit harder.
“It’s not written out on the back of a cigarette packet – it’s well-thought out and well structured. There are no guarantees but we know that those principles are very important, going some way to getting better results and keeping players on the pitch for longer periods.”
Neil Lennon has already spoken in public about the criticism Verheijen dished out – pointing to his track record as manager and player as proof that he knows a little bit about how to prepare a squad of players.
But the Whites boss is guided by his medical team, and the programme undertaken by the players in Austria was mapped out meticulously according to individual training data and past experience.
These days you are more likely to hear the beep of a computer monitoring a GPS vest than a bleep test at Euxton, with every details of a player’s performance uploaded and scrutinised in training and in competitive action.
The days of running round Rivington Pike four days a week are long gone – and while players have been called up for two or three sessions a day at times, Leather went to great length to point out that the club are using all the resources they can to make sure every aspect of fitness is being covered ahead of the new campaign.
“Variety is really important when you look at all the characteristics a professional footballer needs from running in a straight line, to changing direction, strength work, power work, balance, core strength, upper and lower body strength, aerobic fitness, there’s so many different components but they need to be addressed in a short window,” he said.
“If you don’t do it in the short window we’ve got now, you’ll never reach the levels that are required throughout the season.
“Practically, if in the world of ideals and utopia, you have one side, somewhere down the spectrum becomes the compromise and that’s what we need to do.
“And training twice a day, three times a day, it could mean a pool session in the morning, a football session later in the morning and a gym circuit in the afternoon, or some other form of activity.
“There is a variety there that covers the physical attributes but also helps to build a team spirit.”
Source