Kettlewell ‘blown away’ by County fitness

ROSS COUNTY manager Stuart Kettlewell admits he has been ‘blown away’ by the fitness and well-being of his players after their three-month break.

County, along with Celtic, took the first steps of Scottish football’s socially-distanced return to training on Thursday.

‘Thirteen weeks is a long time for players not having their routine,’ said Kettlewell.

‘With them being on furlough, it’s been a difficult situation to give them information. But I think they are so well educated now.

‘They really take care of themselves and buy into being in the correct condition to play football all year round and not just in the league campaign.

‘There’s been a lot of different competitions going on with 5K runs and High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) sessions online.

‘Now we have them back and hopefully the small steps we’re taking now can evolve into the tactical side and full-contact training, as we are guided by the Scottish Government.

‘Then we can change the type of sessions we’re putting on.’

The unique training dynamic of small groups and distancing was not the only change for County players to adapt to on their return.

Steven Ferguson has moved from co-manager to chief executive, with Don Cowie and Richard Brittain introduced as Kettlewell’s assistant coaches.

‘Roy (MacGregor) and the board of directors felt that a change of structure would be the way forward and we totally bought into it,’ said Kettlewell.

‘It’s been brilliant working as co-managers, where we feel we’ve reached goals set out for us and it is time to go to another level.

‘A lot of people say that you implement slight change when you feel you’ve done a good job and you can take that to the next level.’