Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
Hello and welcome to the first Super Sunday of the season and also the first new podcast of the season off the script. They've got the ideal two because Jamie Carragher and myself have never ever followed a script, have we? No, no, no, no.
And you've got to involve... What? Involve Neville in that as well, haven't you? Yeah, I mean, the script's been lashed.
OK, right. So I haven't been given a script for this, though. Go on then. Opening day of the season, how ready were you? Pre-season. What is pre-season actually like?
I used to enjoy pre-season. A lot of people complain about it, but I used to like the fact of actually getting fit. You'd go away somewhere for a couple of weeks, new players integrated, getting yourself ready for the season. I used to like getting fit, getting back to eating healthier, no alcohol, that type of thing. Sounds horrible. Yeah, no, no, it was good. I didn't mind it.
Certainly, as I got older, pre-seasons were changing. I think the old days of just getting told to just keep running until you collapse type of thing were well gone. There was a lot more sports science involved, the heartbeat monitors, all this different thing. So, I mean, when I was a kid, I first done my pre-season at 16.
I'd do exactly the same pre-season as Ian Lux and John Barnes when we went to Liverpool. Everyone would just run together. I was only, I'd say, 16.
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Chapter 2: What is pre-season like for professional footballers?
These were seasoned professionals.
Was it basically, in those days, Run, run, run and make sure you don't get beat by the fat goalkeepers. Yeah, exactly.
It's not a race, but don't come last. A goalkeeper never got close to you, did he? No, no, no, no. It wasn't too bad. I mean, David James was there. He was a bit of a unit. He couldn't run. But no, that's what it was. And it was a lot different now. And to be honest, I think they're easier now. Maybe I think that it's better in some ways.
I know people have their own individual programmes now more than sort of just everyone doing the same thing as a group. And I think that is better. But they are what they are. And people used to grimace years ago. But I think now... They almost feel easy. But we're getting to the stage now where we're not having pre-seasons. I mean, Mane come on for Liverpool and he just missed two weeks.
He'd been playing in the African Nations Cup and had two weeks off and he's come back and played for Liverpool.
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Chapter 3: How has pre-season training evolved over the years?
And the amount of games players are playing now, I think we might get to the stage where the end of the season almost feels like having an injury. In the season, we just missed three or four weeks and you just come back and maybe the days of that full slog of pre-season may be gone.
In the old days though, was it very different? I mean, myself, I always managed to maintain my weight. It never changed. But did you ever see anybody come back way over?
Yeah, I mean, Neil Ruddock used to come back, David Thompson one year, come back way overweight. But, I mean, that is... The old way was to just absolutely bladder it over the summer, whether it was on the air or eating, and I'm losing fat, or, you know, get myself in trim pre-season, whereas pre-season's about getting fit, not losing fat.
That's what it shook me about, but I think the old way was about that, losing a bit of timber, but it's not like that no more. I mean, players actually come back exactly the same weight. I mean, a lot of players now don't even drink alcohol, so... God knows what to do with the time in the summer then.
But you can see the size of it, you can see in the running early on, you can tell straight away in the first week or so who's let themselves go.
How much did you look forward, though, to the opening day of the season? Was it one of those, you couldn't wait to get it out of your system? After all the preparation, the weeks and weeks, just get out and play.
Yeah, it was, but to be honest, you've got to remember, 25 players come back and the first thing you're always thinking of is you've got the pre-season to get fit. But to make sure you're in that team on the first day. I was fortunate, I probably played in most opening days that I was involved in. But that is a big thing, you only pick 11.
And normally there's no injuries going into the first game pre-season. Everyone's fit, comes back pre-season, over the summer gets ready. And everyone's just focused on that first game. And the most important thing really is making sure you're in that team sheet or on the team sheet.
and that is a big problem sometimes for the manager, because he has a lot of new signings coming in also, he's trying to integrate as well, so there's a lot of sort of worry at times in pre-season, there's someone coming in to take me place, I had that, a lot of Liverpool players coming, and you have to fight and battle in that pre-season, and hopefully the manager gives you the nod, and if he gives you the nod, yeah, of course, you get first goal, you just want to get it out the way, do well, and make sure you're in the following week.
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Chapter 4: What challenges do players face during pre-season?
Yeah, I am. Listen, I always get really excited when we bring someone else in. You ponder, it's different ideas, they see things differently, they challenge you as well. So I think it's great to have Jose part of the team. Alongside Gary. Yes, of course. I mean, Gary come up sweating, I don't know why.
It was possibly critical.
Yeah, exactly. So, yeah, looking forward to it. Gary and Martin in the common stream will come back in afterwards and get our teeth into it, seeing how the games have gone.
Great stuff, Carol. Always good to see you. Make sure you join us. This is a regular feature on Super Sunday, available on all the Sky digital platforms. Carrie, you're not supposed to turn your back on me. Oh, sorry, I thought I'd gone. Stay across us the whole season for the Offscript podcast. Told you it was Offscript.