Following a relaxing evening last night after their arrival in Portugal yesterday afternoon, the QPR squad's first full day began bright and early this morning with an 8am wake-up call for breakfast. And training was underway with a 10am meet outside the apartments for a brisk 2.5m jog to the training complex, which is on-site at the Amendoeira Resort and exclusively available to the QPR team. Strength & Conditioning Coach Carl Serrant continued the players' warm-up with a series of short activities and stretches before they were passed onto Eddie Niedzwiecki. The First Team Coach had been at the training pitch from 9.30am preparing all the equipment for the session, painstakingly putting all the manikins, bibs, balls and cones in position to ensure a smooth flow of drills and exercises for when the players arrived. While waiting for the squad to head over, Mark Hughes was thrown a ball by Kit Man Gary Doyle. As it was heading towards him, the R's gaffer said, "No, you hang onto that" and half-volleyed it straight back into Gary's arms from 25-yards. Hughes then said with a grin: "No need to move Gary!" As the squad changed into their boots, Anton Ferdinand asked me to take a few photos on my phone so he could put them on Twitter. OK, here's my excuse. My phone's not the best when it comes to taking action pictures - a four-second delay before capturing the image makes it kind of difficult to get anything half-decent. At the end of the session, I looked at the photos I'd got for him and knew I wouldn't get away with such a shoddy effort! Don't think he'll be asking me to do that for him again in a hurry! Anyway, once the session got underway the typically-meticulous planning was evident to see as the players smoothly transferred from one drill to the next. The much-talked-about high intensity of Hughes's sessions was again on display. At the end of the first day's training, the physically drained squad boarded the coach back to their apartments - they were afforded the luxury of travel as opposed to being made to jog back again afterwards! In the afternoon, the players were given some free time with a few choosing to take to the golf course. Peter Ramage and Tommy Smith took on Paddy Kenny and Brian Murphy, with the keepers suffering defeat. Kenny blamed the temperature, the colour of his golf balls, his partner, and pretty-much anything else he could come up with for the loss! Who knows what tomorrow will bring. Stay tuned to find out.
The on-site training complex is 2.5 miles away? That's a f***ing big complex! Please.... tell me that's not a typo I've just corrected...... If it is, then it's a good job the camera's crap!
Good spot willy, funny though if it was done deliberately. BTW, I wonder who is writing this blog. Any guesses?
