Plans for training meticulous - Bruce
FORMER Huddersfield Town boss Steve Bruce has praised the ‘meticulous’ planning behind the Premier League’s return to training and hopes the season can be restarted.
Top-flight clubs went back to non-contact training in small groups yesterday. Sessions must last no longer than 75 minutes for each player and social distancing must be adhered to.
Clubs will gather again on May 26 to discuss protocols for contact training.
Bruce, now manager at Newcastle United, said: “They have done everything they possibly can to make sure everyone is safe. The attention to detail is fantastic. I think everything has been put in place.
“They have been meticulous in their planning. The vast majority of our squad are satisfied. Let’s get up and going and see where it takes us. I think all of us want to get the season started and finished.
“Players have been off eight to nine weeks. Normally in pre-season it takes six weeks to get them right and six games (friendlies) so it’s going to be a bit of a shot in the dark but I hope we get the second phase (contact training) done.”
Newcastle have not played since March due to the coronavirus outbreak and Bruce admits it has been a tough two months for the squad.
“It’s been such a difficult time to reflect and we have all been worried about when we get started again,” he said. “It is difficult, it is a roller-coaster managing Newcastle.
“I can say that now but I am really enjoying it.”
FORMER Huddersfield Town loanee Scott McDonald says his brief but torrid time at the club in 2002 was a massive and vital learning curve for him.
The forward came in from Southampton at the start of the 2002/03 season but failed to make an impact, scoring just once in his 14 league appearance and finding his game time increasingly limited to a few minutes at a time off the bench.
That season ended with cash-strapped Town relegated to the fourth tier, and McDonald later left Southampton without making any further appearances.
However, he enjoyed a respectable career with Motherwell, Celtic, Middlesbrough and Millwall, among others.
Now at Brisbane Roar, McDonald said of his time at
Town: “I still have friends that I made when I was there.
“I had only played a few firstteam games at Southampton and Mick Wadsworth, who was former Newcastle with Sir Bobby, he came to Southamp