Football Food For Thought / Frank Gregan / 19 March 2009 /

The winter break in La Manga or Dubai is now as much a part of modern English football as the ice bath or the WAG. But Frank Gregan begs those involved to not pull wool over our eyes regarding what they're really all about...

Oh how the other half lives! A common event these days is for Premier League footballers to be whisked away to luxury hotels adjacent to sun kissed beaches in order to do some serious training in a warm weather environment. Yeah right! An hour spent stretching on the beach followed by thirty minutes of head tennis is about as serious as the training gets!

We're told that they are bonding sessions. That is a viable excuse for spending time away, vital during pre-season if there has been a significant change in the playing staff or as is more likely to be the case, the manager has moved on and there is a new Sheriff in town. And why not enjoy the facilities of the Costa Del Minted or the hospitality of Sheik Rattle and Roll? If you've got it flaunt it. But please don't patronize us and tell us that bonding and serious work is being carried out in March, work that can only take place in Dubai and not in Dunstable!

There is a degree of guilt attached to these trips, hence the way that managers feel compelled to justify them to their supporters. Invariably the English weather provides a ready made excuse, "we've been unable to use the training ground because of the conditions." Errr......excuse me, what about the state of the art full size Astroturf pitches complete with rubber pellets to reduce stress on those precious lower limbs? What about the gymnasium the size of a small Wiltshire village? Let's be truthful here - it's a jolly!

Do these breaks work? The Board of Directors at Aston Villa are probably looking at the bill racked up last week in Dubai and shaking their heads in disbelief not only at the figures but at the lacklustre performance the players produced against Spurs on their return. Let's just hope that the excuses offered during the post match debate behind the home dressing room door didn't include "we were jaded after the flight home!"

As a stand-alone item, the sunshine trips probably add little. Exactly the same is true of diets, alcohol bans, massages, Body Mass Index readings, first class travel, sports psychologists, ice baths and isotonic drinks. Individually their effect is minimal, collectively they provide that extra layer of professionalism that separates our top clubs from the rest. When money is no object the "it can't do any harm" principle kicks in. But beware, the person who offered that piece of sage advice to Mickey Adams before Leicester City's La Manga trip a few years back regretted their choice of words!

Villa are at Anfield this weekend against Benitez's men who are flying at the moment; their last two performances were truly socks and pants (top drawer!). Liverpool are a skinny [1.5] whilst Villa are [8.8]. Villa have it in their locker to upset the odds in the big games, as they proved with their 2-0 win at the Emirates earlier on in the season. But with the confidence level in the Anfield camp requiring the use of oxygen masks, the Reds should prevail and make the odds on offer look a great short term investment.

That will mean a blank return in the two games for O'Neill's men after their Desert Delight. In the wider scheme of things the break was not out of order but please, I beg you, tell it like it is. It's a jolly and a perk of the job and if other sides are doing it and yours isn't then the opposition might just get an edge.

Ricky Sbragia said after his Sunderland side returned from Seville earlier this season that the trip had been necessary to get away from the boredom of the training ground. Tell that to the bloke who sits a third of the way back in the home end in the Stadium of Light and spends a large chunk of his annual disposable income on his season ticket. All week long he maintains the device that puts the piped mashed potatoes on top of the mince in the factory that makes Shepherd's Pie. Footballers don't live in the real world, if they did they'd know that's what you call boring!

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