Other than a read, Thursday morning. The first 'home' pre-season game for Sunderland, so a press call. And Martin OâNeill was reminiscing about Brian Clough. He was about to return to the club where Clough and trusty assistant Peter Taylor cut their managerial teeth on their way to becoming European champions. Hartlepools, as it was known then, where they spent as much time redecorating the ground as they could rebuilding a team. The great man remembered the time fondly. OâNeill said: 'He would talk about the chairman who was 5ft 2in and his feet couldn't touch the floor when he sat down. He and Peter Taylor were really funny taking about those days.â The pre-embarrassing-defeat-at-Hartlepool press conference also presented an opportunity to quiz OâNeill on the difference between the modern player and those of his generation who had a rather different outlook to close season. In those days it was common for players not to see a ball for the first week. Day one meant run, run and run some more. Right up OâNeillâs street. 'Players will mostly stick to a programme now,â he said. 'I think there is a realisation that you can play for longer. Years ago, when we hit 30, the feeling was that it was all-but over. Now with the money being so good, itâs worthwhile the players staying in shape to prolong their careers. 'I was the same on the first day of training as I was on the last â dreadful. John Robertson was worse. We used to run around a lake at Woolerton and they didnât have a stopwatch for John, they had a calendar out. 'Funnily enough, it was always the case that the boys who could belt around that lake the quickest were never in the team when the season started. Of the four or five who could run brilliantly, if you threw a ball at their feet they would fall over it.â Memories: Sunderland boss Martin O'Neill But it was recalling Cloughâs own attitude to pre-season that brought arguably the biggest revelation about the first summer warm-up Sunderland and the clubâs players have experienced under OâNeill. He recalled: 'Our pre-season at Forest was overall less demanding than at other clubs. I went down to Norwich at 28, Mel Mechin was the manager, and the pre-season was purgatory. Shocking, really, really shocking. I thought he had no respect for the number of games I had played! 'We didnât see too much of Cloughie during pre-season. He went to the games, which he held a lot of store in. That was really important. He always felt that players should take responsibility to get themselves into some sort of condition. 'What he was brilliant at was giving you time off. If you had given your heart and soul into the game then you needed the time because the season was too long. Jimmy Gordon was our trainer and Cloughie trusted him. But we never saw him until we went out to Germany, as it normally was, to play some games.â OâNeill is a manager who, like Clough, tends to leave the day-to-day coaching to his coaches. So when he says that Clough tended to concentrate on playersâ form in the July matches, and no doubt results, rather than the winner of the club cross country championship, you got the feeling OâNeill might just feel the same. And the reaction to that his pilgrimage to Hartlepool? Sunderland up the ante in the move for Steven Fletcher, and no doubt a few more OâNeill is keeping very close to his chest. Stand by for other reinforcements. And improved results as Sunderland hit the road this week for games in Helsingborgs, York, Derby and Leicester. Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/fo...mories-bid-lift-Sunderland.html#ixzz22HcYN8tP
John Robertson was worse. We used to run around a lake at Woolerton and they didn’t have a stopwatch for John, they had a calendar out. Class haha
