United players report back for training
Last updated 13:04, Thursday, 03 July 2008
John Ward welcomed his Carlisle United squad back from the summer break with the message that the days of a punishing “old school” pre-season regime are in the past.
Ward claims there will be no throwback to the times when the early weeks of pre-season preparation consisted simply of running the players to utter exhaustion.
“If I did things that way, I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t be here,” said the United boss.
“The reason people like Dennis Booth and myself are still working in football at our vintage is that we can move on from that way of doing things.
“The game changes and we have to move on with it. There will be plenty of physical and fitness work, but the boys will go home every day having seen the football. I think that is really important.”
This isn’t to be confused with a lenient take on the necessary training ground work of early July, merely confirmation that a more rounded approach to pre-season is now accepted to be the most successful way to have the players in proper order for the coming campaign.
A mere 49 days after Leeds killed their promotion dream last season, Carlisle are back. Today sees the earliest work in preparing a promotion push for 2008/9. Their first friendly is just eight days away – at Kendal, next Friday night – at which point the August 9 League One opener at Bristol Rovers appears to loom considerably closer.
“The boys are in good nick when they come in,” said Ward, who is contentedly aware that many of his squad have been making their own physical preparations for the new season long before today.
“Today and tomorrow are mainly about organising, there are a couple of new faces to welcome in, and next week it starts in earnest and ends with the game at Kendal.
“I’ll be taking all my professionals to Kendal, everyone will get a game, so if people go along they will see the new boys for the first time, as well as the old ones.
“I’ve not got the biggest squad in terms of numbers so we have to be careful in some respects. Everything is geared up to Bristol Rovers. It’s our job to get as many people available as we possibly can.”
The onset of the new season presents Ward with enough reasons to be cautious about making concrete plans on his first XI at this early stage.
The issues to be settled in the coming weeks are numerous: will Chris Howarth or new boy Ben Williams make the strongest claim to replace Keiren Westwood as United’s premier goalkeeper?
Will United’s other summer recruit, Josh Gowling, impress sufficiently to prise either Danny Livesey or Peter Murphy out of the centre of defence?
What impact will a fit and refreshed Paul Thirlwell have, as he leaves behind the frustration of an injury-ruined 2007/8? Who, among Thirlwell, Chris Lumsdon, Marc Bridge-Wilkinson, Luke Joyce, Grant Smith and Shaun Vipond, will assume the central midfield places in Ward’s final chosen side?
Will Cleveland Taylor respond strongly to a full pre-season regime – as the manager insists he will – and spring into the new season much more impressively than he ended the last?
Will Danny Carlton finally announce himself as a credible League One frontman? What early statements might the 17-year-old Gary Madine make? Or will the more established pair of Danny Graham and Scott Dobie assume the heaviest striking load?
With such an inventory of matters to be resolved, it’s hardly surprising to hear Ward counselling patience.
“It’s a good observation time and it’s good for me in that everything doesn’t hinge on the results of these friendly games,” he said.
Still, some strong suggestions as to his starting XI for Bristol can be expected in United’s final two friendlies, against Middlesbrough and Morecambe. “But even then, there’s nothing set in stone,” the manager added. “It’s best to leave things a little bit open.”
The prospect of more arrivals – and departures – simply adds to the intrigue. “It’s up to the players how they want to see their position,” said Ward. “If they see it as an opportunity, they’ve got a chance. I’ve got no fixed ideas of who’s going to be in the team.
“We’re starting from scratch again. It’s open warfare. I’m saying to them all, ‘Go on, show me you can get into the team’.”
JColman@cngroup.co.uk
