I was listening to a radio show last week and I was surprised to hear that the Legendary United team never really got a day off unless Fergie saw some player under stress and he would send him off for a couple of weeks holidays. Every day required the player to check in at some stage to Carrington whether it was for a light training session after a game, an ice bath or some video analysis of the upcoming opposition. This really surprised me. But they finish at 12 every day I thought. A pro footballer was on the radio station and he shot that down. He said they would always stay behind for gym work or personal training and that player in particular would not be home until 5pm every day. I don't care. I'm still not feeling sorry for them but the no day off thing made me think a bit. Maybe the path I took wasn't so miserable after all. The wife knows I will be home at 5.30 every day (I don't know if that is a good thing or a bad thing). But if you are a footballers wife and you have 3 kids. It's not all fun and games when your husband is away quite a bit. Let's look at Liverpools schedule this week. Another team that didn't have a day off from September up to the champions league final.
Klopp is famous for saying if we are not going to be the richest club we will have to be the fittest in order to keep up with Manchester City. Klopp's training pre season is meant to be absolutely mental. Players getting sick and getting pushed to their max.
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Klopp wasn't happy about the last weeks schedule.They started their premiership campaign last Saturday. They had to hop on a plane to Turkey to play Chelsea in the Supercup on Wednesday night. Klopp was not happy with the Saturday afternoon fixture against Southampton. But instead of staying that night the team checked into the Ritz Carlton in Istanbul . It was a good job they did because James Henderson had to stay behind for a drugs test. These are known to take hours especially in hot countries as there is no urine to obtain until the player starts drinking after the game.
The team flew home on Thursday afternoon around 4pm and could head home to their families. The management team went to the training ground to look over video analysis of a saints team that were licking their wounds from their 3 nil defeat to Burnley.
On Friday the players had to report for training at 1pm. They had light training and the video analysis. They flew down to Southampton at 6pm and stayed in the Hilton.
This is only a snapshot of one teams schedule for a week. Imagine the elite players with huge sponsorship deals. No wonder Ronaldo and Messi have people running their schedules. So imagine you are married to one of these guys. Away Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday this week. Once the European championships league gets going it will be the same schedule. And we won't go into the international diary when players spend weeks away before a world cup. You look at all the logistics of the teams away games, getting gear ready , organising flights. It is a massive operation. And lest not forget the players all work on Christmas day. At the moment they all get weighted daily to ensure their %body fat is extremely low.
I changed my mind. I want to be a rock star.