By AD
July 11 2011

News that 22 Coventry City players have jetted off for a pre-season training camp in Portugal have caused a little bit of controversy last week.

Such camps are always said to be vital to pre-season as the players are focused on the training without the distractions of everyday life, and also gives new teammates time to bond with the rest of the squad. 

That’s reasonable enough, although having only signed two new goalkeepers there’s hardly a massive amount on bonding required at this stage. And I’m sure a plush resort in Portugal is going to have a fair few other distractions too… 

But the issue causing most consternation is the cost when the club is clearly broke. The weather in Britain is usually acceptable at this time of year so why not save some cash using your own facilities, that were upgraded at great expense less than two years ago, and get the players (re)acquainted with their surroundings? Or at the very least somewhere reasonably local – it wasn’t that long ago pre-season training was done at the local Army barracks – and we were in the top flight then! 

But if pre-season must be done abroad, why do we go somewhere hot? Most of the British season is played in cold, dark, miserable conditions so shouldn’t we be preparing the players for that, especially any new signings from abroad who aren’t used to the climate? 

Coventry City always seem to do better at the start and end of seasons when the weather is more clement but struggle during the poorer weather. So perhaps basing our pre-season training around improving that may prove more beneficial?