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IF training in the driving wind and rain of Lostock doesn’t build character for Phil Parkinson’s Wanderers this season, then nothing will.
The welcome is almost always more hospitable than the weather on the open plains of the academy – but with Euxton now a fading memory, there are more guests to cater for.
Wanderers moved their first team to their secondary base at Easter and are making the best of a difficult transition.
Bidding goodbye to the former training ground was difficult for those who have grown accustomed to its Premier League luxuries. But thanks to some hard graft over the summer and some plans implemented by the new manager, this part of town is now feeling more like home.
Club staff have pitched in to ensure surfaces are cleaned, walls are painted and brass is polished as the players returned for duty on Monday.
Parkinson and his staff have insisted the squad change together and eat together on-site, which has also meant a few last-minute alterations.
“It’s getting there,” said the Whites boss. “It’s a great facility and I think there are Championship clubs which would be envious of what we have got here.
“The one thing I need as a coach to be absolutely right are the pitches and the ground staff here have been brilliant on that – they are working very hard.
“I wanted us to eat together, work together. I want us to be a team, not what happened with England the other night against Iceland.”
Two days into pre-season and there is still a curious mix of the old and the new.
Parkinson and his staff are still getting to know the players and will no doubt find the forthcoming trip to Sweden vitally important on that front.
But dotted around the offices and hallways were some familiar faces who have seen this kind of Lostock weather more times than they care to mention.
Jimmy Phillips, now given some semblance of security in his role as academy manager, looked more relaxed than he had at Craven Cottage two months ago, after the final game of his stint in interim charge.
Under-16s coach Nicky Spooner also bounced into the offices after the rain had finally relented.
“The first team will learn,” he said. “Once it turns 12 o’clock we turn the weather off.”
Dean Holdsworth, now in the role of director of football, was also on site and battling the conditions with a red umbrella that was ready to give up the ghost.
He remembers only too well when World Cup stars like Bibi Gardner, Mark Fish and Per Frandsen laced their boots at Euxton, then little more than a collection of portacabins, which was gradually improved over time.
Holdsworth has plans to improve Wanderers’ lot once again and is looking to expand the buildings already in place to provide some office space for the manager and extra changing and dining facilities.
After last season’s disappointments, a new environment was needed. This team – whatever it looks like by the start of August – cannot afford any sort of hangover.
“I’ve told the players we have to draw a line under everything that happened,” Parkinson said. “It’s done with now, it’s over. We start afresh.”
Lostock may not have the air-conditioned gym or cryogenic rehab units of their former base but you sense none of that luxury will help get last season out of Wanderers’ system. Stripping things right back might actually work in Parkinson’s favour.
The hard work will be done out on the pitch. The new manager is making sure that when the players report for duty they do so together, and the camp has an altogether more insular feel about it than in recent years. This is Wanderers scaled down, resized.
Of the group who trained yesterday, some players will almost certainly leave for good this summer, while new faces will hopefully arrive. Keeping this group focused and tightly knit will be the first big challenge for the new boss – and that is before a ball is kicked in League One.
http://forum.boltonnuts.co.uk/post?f=21&mode=newtopic
The welcome is almost always more hospitable than the weather on the open plains of the academy – but with Euxton now a fading memory, there are more guests to cater for.
Wanderers moved their first team to their secondary base at Easter and are making the best of a difficult transition.
Bidding goodbye to the former training ground was difficult for those who have grown accustomed to its Premier League luxuries. But thanks to some hard graft over the summer and some plans implemented by the new manager, this part of town is now feeling more like home.
Club staff have pitched in to ensure surfaces are cleaned, walls are painted and brass is polished as the players returned for duty on Monday.
Parkinson and his staff have insisted the squad change together and eat together on-site, which has also meant a few last-minute alterations.
“It’s getting there,” said the Whites boss. “It’s a great facility and I think there are Championship clubs which would be envious of what we have got here.
“The one thing I need as a coach to be absolutely right are the pitches and the ground staff here have been brilliant on that – they are working very hard.
“I wanted us to eat together, work together. I want us to be a team, not what happened with England the other night against Iceland.”
Two days into pre-season and there is still a curious mix of the old and the new.
Parkinson and his staff are still getting to know the players and will no doubt find the forthcoming trip to Sweden vitally important on that front.
But dotted around the offices and hallways were some familiar faces who have seen this kind of Lostock weather more times than they care to mention.
Jimmy Phillips, now given some semblance of security in his role as academy manager, looked more relaxed than he had at Craven Cottage two months ago, after the final game of his stint in interim charge.
Under-16s coach Nicky Spooner also bounced into the offices after the rain had finally relented.
“The first team will learn,” he said. “Once it turns 12 o’clock we turn the weather off.”
Dean Holdsworth, now in the role of director of football, was also on site and battling the conditions with a red umbrella that was ready to give up the ghost.
He remembers only too well when World Cup stars like Bibi Gardner, Mark Fish and Per Frandsen laced their boots at Euxton, then little more than a collection of portacabins, which was gradually improved over time.
Holdsworth has plans to improve Wanderers’ lot once again and is looking to expand the buildings already in place to provide some office space for the manager and extra changing and dining facilities.
After last season’s disappointments, a new environment was needed. This team – whatever it looks like by the start of August – cannot afford any sort of hangover.
“I’ve told the players we have to draw a line under everything that happened,” Parkinson said. “It’s done with now, it’s over. We start afresh.”
Lostock may not have the air-conditioned gym or cryogenic rehab units of their former base but you sense none of that luxury will help get last season out of Wanderers’ system. Stripping things right back might actually work in Parkinson’s favour.
The hard work will be done out on the pitch. The new manager is making sure that when the players report for duty they do so together, and the camp has an altogether more insular feel about it than in recent years. This is Wanderers scaled down, resized.
Of the group who trained yesterday, some players will almost certainly leave for good this summer, while new faces will hopefully arrive. Keeping this group focused and tightly knit will be the first big challenge for the new boss – and that is before a ball is kicked in League One.
http://forum.boltonnuts.co.uk/post?f=21&mode=newtopic
