SAM ALLARDYCE is poised to kick-start his revolution in
Newcastle's pre-season training next week with psychological
profiling, punishing individual training regimes and tactical
planning from a "war room".
The Newcastle boss will get into the minds of his stars next season
using scientifically prepared questionnaires to evaluate their
state of mind and commitment to the club. They would indicate what
sort of managerial approach will get the best out of them.
It is a technique his staff used at Bolton and which some of his
players admitted was "frighteningly accurate."
Allardyce is also planning to ditch the routine of cross-country
runs and lengthy slogs around pitches for the entire squad
traditionally used to build fitness.
Instead he will hand players tailored pre-season programmes which
will be worked on in small groups or individually - with stars
coming in at different times of the day to do their work.
There will also be team bonding sessions, and focused sessions in
the video room where Allardyce will outline different tactical
formations for home games and away games. Allardyce is also hoping
to take his squad away for a 10-day fitness building break in
Austria, possibly starting next week.
One star who has trained under Allardyce's methods said: "If the
Newcastle players buy into it, they will see it is eye-opening
stuff. But they must know that Sam takes no s**t and if they don't
go for it they will be out."
All planning is done from a base that was known at Bolton as the
"war room."
Allardyce is close to appointing Mark Taylor as his head of sports
science. The club is also advertising for a 10-strong backroom
staff to help him.
The mission is to cut Newcastle's terrible injury record which saw
340 player-days lost to injury last season, five times more than
Bolton's under Allardyce.
Allardyce said: "We will monitor each individual from day one,
building up their all-round fitness and ability. It is true we
won't even be training as a group. It will be individual programmes
or small groups.
Then we will focus on how we want the team to play.
"I want to make the training ground a better place. It is like a
squash club converted. It isn't a place for professional
footballers to work on a day-to-day basis.
"My vision is to create an all-encompassing building that will
excite everybody who walks through the door, every day."