Danny Graham has spent his post-season break doing special sessions in the gym – in a bid to prove his worth to Sunderland boss Dick Advocaat.The striker is determined to be part of the Dutchman’s plans next season after being handed his chance to impress at the end of the last campaign. And he has sacrificed much of time off by heading down daily to his local gym, Club 29 Fitness, for special one-on-one strength and conditioning work. It’s all part of the 28-year-old’s bid to stay at Sunderland next season after experiencing a remarkable turnaround in fortunes at the Stadium of Light. Graham, who failed to score in his first 27 games for the club, was brought in from the cold by Advocaat for Sunderland’s relegation run-in, and responded with some of his best performances in a red and white shirt to help guide the Black Cats to safety. The striker won a crucial penalty in the win against Stoke City and then opened his goal account with the first strike in a 2-0 win against Everton. Graham endured a difficult spell on Wearside after his £5million move from Swansea in 2011. He was shipped out on loan to Hull City, then Championship outfits Middlesbrough and Wolves as his Sunderland career looked over. But he earned praise from Advocaat for his performances after the Dutchman took over from Gus Poyet. Advocaat said: “He gives everything, even in training. He never moans, he’s a real pro, you can see that. “I had no doubts when you saw him in training that he would get that goal.” With doubts over the future of fellow striker Steven Fletcher, who has just 12 months left on his contract, Graham hopes his extra sessions have stolen him a march on his team-mates when they return to pre-season training this week. Sunderland report back on Thursday for fitness tests, but players who were on international duty during the summer – such as John O’Shea, Seb Larsson, Fletcher and Costel Pantilimon – have been allowed an extra week off. Sunderland’s first friendly is a week on Thursday at Darlington 1883 before they fly out to the United States for their pre-season tour.
Plates,Chains - who gives a **** - it looks like hard work to me - I'm going to get my bacon sarnie for breakfast - lifting that is my morning exercise - and I'm on a promise tonight for my late evening exercise - none of this heavy lifting lark!!
I was really impressed when I first saw this story but having thought about it I'm really not sure why. I personally go to the gym 4-5 times a week and I'm an accountant ffs. What a sad state of affairs to be impressed that a professional professional athlete goes to the gym in his spare time. This should not be news.
I've just switched from two bacon sarnies on sliced bread to one individual ciabatta with extra bacon. Great choice. Loving my Bacon Ciabatta at the moment.
Whilst I will give Danny full credit for the work he's putting in, it annoys me a bit. This is everything wrong with British men's football these days. I remember Robojohn saying on here last week that, whilst full-blooded tackles were going in at the Women's World Cup, "skill levels are very good". In the British men's game, muscle is everything - in Danny's film, there's not a ball in sight from start to finish. We've had one or two who could kick a ball in a straight line - most notably Beckham - but most can't even do that well. Ninety percent of the skills we see in the EPL are from foreigners. It's not a good situation.
