Six days away with Sheffield Wednesday – Laughs, thrown golf clubs and oh so many flies

Having touched down in Alicante on Saturday, Xisco wasted no time in putting them to work. With double sessions at 9.30am and 6.30pm in order to avoid the blistering sun, work in the gym, trips to the training pitch on bikes supplied by their resort, La Finca, and plenty of running, the Spaniard is eager to get them into peak physical condition. After all, it’s not long until Southampton come to town.

The work ranges from piggy in the middle to set pieces, from work in possession to positioning when they aren’t. Multiple players work in multiple positions, and on the face of it they seem to love it. ‘Intense’ was the word most used to describe them, with a focus on quality rather than quantity – sessions aren’t long but plenty is demanded.

As an outsider you’re quickly reminded just how much better professionals are than you and your mates down at Goals. The regularity of sublime first touches, the power in the strikes, the speed of thought constantly on show. Xisco’s not lost it, either, showing his players a thing or two in a game of crossbar challenge late in the week and celebrating after hearing the dink.

La Finca’s pitch is excellent, the turf maintained by diligent staff to make sure it’s up to scratch. Gallons of water are drunk, litres of suncream are used, and there’s a fair bit of bug spray going about as they bat away the pesky flies that seem to take great pleasure in disrupting interviews with the media after training.

The new coaches are as heavily involved as you’d expect, Miguel Angel Munoz a constant, Roberto Cuesta taking the lead specifically with set pieces, and Antonello Brandilla working with Cameron Dawson, Pierce Charles and Luke Jackson as they’re put through their paces under the blazing sun. Above them all flies a drone, that’ll be used for analysis – no stone is left unturned as preparations for a tough Championship season continues.

Matches against Real Murcia and CD Eldense are laboured. Wednesday don’t score, they barely have a shot, but it’s all part of the learning process. After two years of a back three they’re now playing with four, the style is different, and it’s going to take some getting used to. Rome wasn’t built in a day, and in interviews numerous players call for patience, urging fans to trust the process. Youngsters out of position as well as in their favoured roles – being able to play in more than one gives them a better chance of games, Xisco says.

After the first game, a 0-0 draw, they’re given pizza in the changing room, a quick carbo load after the depleting their tanks in the Murcian humidity – it was also getting late, and it was thought better to eat before returning to the hotel. After the second, a 4-0 defeat, they’re quickly on the coach to get going.

Breakfast, lunch and dinner is laid out for them, and everything is organised by Brian Horne, a former Millwall goalkeeper and now Managing Director of Sporting Events, who’s the go-to man throughout. Whatever they need, he’ll try and get it for them. Elsewhere the club’s four-person media team of Trevor Braithwait, Mark Ruane, Joe Braithwait and photographer, Harriet Massey, work diligently to not only provide content for the website and social media, but also coordinate things back home as well. The press end up with almost too much content such is the access granted, and every player – whichever end of the age range – offers thoughtful and interesting insight into the state of play.

On Wednesday afternoon the players were given the day off, some choosing to take a short trip out to nearby Torrevieja by the sea, others decide to rest up at the hotel and enjoy the break, and the golf enthusiasts among them opt to take in the course that’s quite literally on their doorstep. Cameron Dawson, considered to be one of the better golfers it would appear, had a bad day at the office - and Will Vaulks took great pleasure in telling the media the following day how things got the better of him at point point, the shot-stopper throwing his club in frustration.

There’s an acceptance that new faces are needed, and a confidence that they will - eventually - arrive, but there’s a feeling that the players already ready for the season ahead are just getting on with it. In the hotel dining area they drank coffee whilst watching the golf, or the Ashes, or Wimbledon - whatever was on over the course of the week - and enjoy their time together, relaxing inbetween sessions. The media, working not far away, get a nod or a wave from them as they make their way to each meal.

It ends with a bit of a whimper, that 4-0 defeat to Eldense, but perspective is required. The temperatures were joke, probably the hottest that many an Owl will have played in, add that to all of the stylistic changes and the desire to make sure everyone is fit for the Southampton opener and on it’s own it’s nothing to be overly concerned about.

The mood is great, the manager is accomodating and engaged, the players are still aiming high. The proof, of course though, will be in the pudding. Roll on the Saints.

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