Collymore lifts the lid on pre-season

footsoccer

4 months ago

Pre-season fixtures are rarely anything more than 22 men just ambling around the pitch in the summer heat, getting themselves ready for the forthcoming Premier League season – or any other league campaign come to that.

It’s an opportunity for clubs to throw in their youngsters, with the big guns only generally getting involved in games the nearer it gets to the start of the season.

For those fans turning up to watch a spectacle, pre-season rarely delivers on that front, and Stan Collymore has lifted the lid on why that is.

Premier League players’ disdain for pre-season

“Beyond pure fitness, if you can rattle in a few goals, fantastic – though it’s not the be all and end all,” he said to CaughtOffside for his exclusive column.

“There is very little in terms of pre-season work that prepares you for the first day of the season because usually it’s a warm day in August and the crowd dictates that you come out of the traps at 100 miles an hour when you haven’t got 100 miles an hour in your tank.

“In all honesty, I think that for most players, as long as they can get through pre-season unscathed, that’s all that matters.”

Given Collymore’s revelations, it’s a wonder that supporters would still want to dip into their hard-earned, knowing that the players on the pitch couldn’t really care what happens, as long as they can give themselves a workout and stay injury free.

The risk of injury is still there of course, particularly if a side considered a ‘minnow,’ with respect, gets the opportunity to play against a team much higher up the football food chain.