BRENDAN’S WEIGHT WATCHERS
Boss has staff on gym regime
BRENDAN RODGERS is cranking up Leicester City’s assault on the Premier League — with a pre-training boot camp.
The Foxes’ chief is determined to last the distance on a campaign that has started with a bang and has been toning himself up in the club’s gym.
Each morning, Rodgers and members of his backroom team are putting themselves through their paces at their Belvoir Drive base before turning their attention to the first team.
And this ‘ fitness of body, fitness of mind’ approach is reaping rich rewards, with the former champs flying high.
Rodgers, 46, said: “Every morning there will be a group of us in there, from about 7.30am onwards.
“It’s something I did at Celtic and Liverpool – it was towards the end of my time at Liverpool when I really got into it – because I wasn’t in such good nick five years ago!
“So I increased my training and changed my diet. It wasn’t for any reason other than personal pride – but it does give me energy to do my work – all the science behind it tells you that.
“And I feel much better when I’m training than when I’m not. You know what they say: that your stomach is your badge of honour.
“But obviously as you get older your health becomes increasingly important. And if you’re asking a lot of players and pushing them to work to their highest level then I think it’s important the staff are also fit.
“In football, you work long hours and if you concentrate and you are fit then hopefully you can do the job better.”
Rodgers’ side rose to third in the table following last weekend’s victory over Spurs – and have already played three of the ‘Big Six.’
James Maddison – who is an injury doubt for today’s clash against Newcastle – claimed after the victory over Mauricio Pochettino’s men that the Foxes deserve to be taken seriously.
The manager stopped short of trumpeting similar but did say that he has a collection of ‘ muddied diamonds’ at the King Power Stadium.
He added: “Looking in from the outside, before I arrived, I always thought this group of players were diamonds in the mud.
“There’s a good core of players here. The senior ones, in particular, had been targeted by the big boys.
“All I did when I arrived was take them out of the mud and polish them. They are good guys. They are a strong bunch. But they care. Good teams have spirit.
“What we are doing at the moment is finding ways to compete. That’s what we aim to do.
“Look at the trend – the top six have pulled away from everyone else in the past few years.
“We have set no target on where we want to finish. We feel with the squad, the improvement and the spirit we can be competitive.
“Time will tell what happens.”