Shrewsbury Town

Micky Mellon was back out on the training pitch today with the return of the players for the pre-season training programme.

Everyone was back at the Greenhous Meadow this morning to get fitted for the new Errea training kit.  After that it was over to Skitty for the players to be weighed and measured and then they were off to Sundourne Castle.

It was light sessions this morning to ease everyone back into the training, though there were a few tough running sessions dropped in by fitness coach Andy Hodgen.

Micky Mellon was looking forward to getting back to it and to seeing the players in training:“I’m glad to be be back and our summer break seems like a long time because you recover pretty quickly.

“It’s great to be back in the building and I’ve been looking forward to seeing the players and the new signings.

“You expect the energy and the excitement that you see on that first day and the anticipation of what we’re going to do in the next three weeks.

“It’s a good time; I like pre-season.”

Pre-season programmes develop each year with the emphasis put on the players to return at a good standard of fitness.  The days of long runs everyday have gone and it's a more varied programme now to get the players to the optimum fitness levels:“It’s a lot more geared towards what you need to be a footballer now.

“It’s functional fitness work that’s designed around getting a group of footballers ready for a game of football, rather than running up Haughmond Hill and getting a group geared up for mountaineering!

“There’s a place for different things at different times but it’s measured towards getting the group ready for that first game of the season.

With the addition of fitness coach Andy Hodgen he and Chris Skitt work hard on the fitness side of things.  There is a lot of science that goes into the planning and analysis that takes place of the players fitness levels:“Everyone is doing that now and in the modern-day game, there is so much information and so many experts and so many ways of doing things that you can make players better.

“You’ve got to embrace that and have a look at that.

“They still work really hard and there are things which we’ve taken forward with us, but if I think there’s something I need to know more about or try, then I’ll definitely give it a go.

The first day will see weight and body measurements taken to give an indication of the players fitness.  It then gives them a benchmark to work from to improve over the pre-season”“They’ll be measured but that’s not because we want to catch them out but it’s expected that today’s player knows how to look after themselves.

“If they don’t, then eventually in today’s game, you’ll get found out.

“If you don’t look after yourself and come back in good condition, you’ll find yourself out of the team and quite literally tumbling out of the game because everyone else is doing it.

“That side of it isn’t actually as big an issue as it used to be years ago because players pretty much all come back in great condition, and it will be about making sure we get a measurement on where they are fitness-wise.

“Some of them could maybe play next week because of what they’ve done throughout the 

At the end of the season the gaffer, like many at the club, were tired after the seasons hard work to gain promotion to Sky Bet League 1.  Micky revealed that it had been an emotional end to the season for many reasons but now he's rested and ready for the challenge ahead:”“I was tired at the end of what was a long season and there was a lot of emotion at the end of the season as we all know with things that happened at the end of it.

“Unfortunately we lost some of the fans we had and it took its toll emotionally on people who are close to the club.

“And also the hard work and emotion and trying to get the club back to a place where we see it improving.

“But I took a rest from it and now I’m back and flying again and I’m desperate to get going again.

“I know when I wake up in the morning I’m desperate to get to work.