Evening Telegraph (First Edition)
Staggies gaffer ‘blown away’ by fitness levels of his returning squad
ROSS County manager Stuart Kettlewell admits he has been blown away by the fitness levels of his players.
The Staggies and champions Celtic were the first Scottish Premiership clubs to return to training on Thursday.
It was the first time Kettlewell was able to work with his players on the training pitch since Scottish football shut down i n March but the County boss has been pleasantly surprised by how well his players have kept i n shape during lockdown.
He said: “We have seen that hunger from t he players to get back on the training pitch.
“Thirteen weeks i s a really long time for football players t o not have a routine.
“We have been blown away by the condition the players have come back in.
“I think there has been a lot of different competitions going on with 5K runs and high-intensity interval training sessions online.
“With the players on furlough it was difficult to give them information but they are so well educated that they know how to take care of themselves to make sure they are in the correct condition to play football all year round rather than just the seasonal period of the league campaign.
“It is a bit of a change from even when I was a player when you would see the same guys bulking up and having to lose two or three stone when they came back for pre-season.”
The Staggies manager has been forced to split his squad into two groups to maintain the social-distancing protocols.
He said: “It has been long days. Myself and the guys were in at 7 o’clock in the morning to set the sessions up.”