PREPARATIONS for the forthcoming 2010-11 Barclays Premier League campaign continue as the Potters spend eight days in Central Austria on their annual pre-season training camp.
stokecityfc.com are out in Irdning with them so be sure to keep logging on throughout the duration of the stay for all the goings on from within the camp. (please note - we are one hour ahead of UK time here in Austria).
Sunday (July 18)
9:54pm - A few of us are gathered in the bar area now for one last drink before departing back to the UK tomorrow. We have been joined by the management staff from German Bundesliga runners up Schalke 04. We are currently discussing football, and hmmmm... the World Cup :( To be fair though they aren't rubbing it in too much. Their manager Felix Magath and his coaching staff seem very nice.
8:15pm - Well the winning team were the yellow team, which comprised of Liam Lawrence, Carl Dickinson, Ben Marshall, Abdoulaye Faye and Ricardo Fuller. They were rewarded with a piece of chocolate cake each, which went down very well! Before that, the players enjoyed their final meal here, with beef thai curry, grilled chicken, pasta, rice and hallibut. Following the meal Tony Pulis called the chef and restaurant manager into the dining room to thank them for their wonderful hospitality, before giving them a signed shirt on behalf of the club as a thank you. All the players showed their appreciation with a raptuous round of applause.
7:07pm - Right, it's time for dinner, and time to see who the winning team were!
6:57pm - That was a pretty fun ending to the week for the lads. They were split into four teams and were all put through a series of shooting drills, passing skills, and ball retention drills. Each team is scored with either four, three, two or one point depending on how they fare. The players all took it very seriously and the winning team will be announced at dinner in around about an hours time.
5:22pm - Anyway, off to training we go!
5:19pm - That was a superb tournament and the winner was Physio Dave Watson. My pre-tournament prediction of Ben Marshall turned out to be pretty embarrasing. He was eliminated in the first round, and he was whitewashed in the process by Matty Etherington. After Watson defeated coach Andy Quy in the first round, he then beat Asmir Begovic, Matty Etherington and Tom Soares on his way to a showdown with Pughie in the final. At one point it looked like it would be a whitewash for Big Dave, but he had to be content with an 11-6 victory in the end. A worthy winner.
4:01pm - Here we are... let the games commence. I will report back on the winner later on!
3:39pm - A few members of staff are involved in the tournament too, but when John Rudge's name was mentioned Robert Huth said there was an age limit in the tournament. Rudgey didn't look impressed, though he is just claiming that they are all scared of him. Apparently he was champion of Chester at one point... in the 40's shouted out one of the lads.
3:01pm - I've just noticed a couple of lads head over to the driving range, so they must be getting a bit of golf under their belts, before the tournament and the final session of training this afternoon.
2:37pm - Well the table tennis tournament is scheduled to take place at 4pm, and the draw has been made. The two big guns Carlo Nash and Asmir Begovic will collide, whilst my favourite Ben Marshall will come up against Matty Etherington. They are all very excited and are taking it very seriously. In fact, a few are there already practising.
1:48pm - Well I'm sure the food continues to get better with every day that passes. A delightful helping of chicken breast, cat fish, pasta and salad, along with cream of tomato soup. It went down a treat with everyone.
1:00pm - Lunch is about to be served so for the final time I am off down to see what the chef has cooked up for the lads today.
12:38pm - Gym session is done, and that leaves just the couple of hours at the training ground later to do before they can put their feet up and enjoy a night off. They did some work on the tredmills, cross trainers and bikes in the gym, before spending some time building up their muscles on the weights.
11:18am - A few of the players are hovering around with their trainers ready for the gym, whilst amazingly some have gone in early to do a little bit extra,. Fair play to them, they have all been extremely professional this week and it has been a privelidge to see how much work they put in.
10:43am - A few of the lads are back to the PS3 with others crowding around the table tennis table. Apparently there will be a tournament later today to see who really is the king of the court... or should I say table. My money is on Ben Marshall or Danny Pugh, who have looked superb from what I have witnessed over the past week.
09:59am - The packing is done, and just looking over my balcony and a few of the lads are sitting out having a coffee. It is a lot cooler today and there is a lot more cloud in the sky. Asmir Begovic says this would have been ideal for the duration of the stay over here.
09:42am - Breakfast has been served, but with packing to be done I decided to skip it. However, I'm sure they were all down there building up their energy for a session in the gym at lunch time.
08:58am - Well that wasn't as bad as the other hill according to some of the lads, but others certainly had alternative views. It wasn't quite as steep but the distance was certainly longer. Myself and Martin Spinks followed the lads on the 2 mile jog warm up prior to the hill climb and that was tiring enough. But to do twelve runs to the top of the hill would have been incredibley tough. We managed the one, and it took us about 20 seconds longer than it took the lads, who were finishing it in around 90 seconds.
06:28am - Well I don't know about the players but I am certainly starting to feel all of these late night's and early morning's catch up with me now. Today we are off to a different hill which the gaffer has come across, as he puts the players through the pain barrier one last time!
