David Preece: The inside track on training camps and why getting rid of the bad apples is just as important as good recruitment

Whilst Östersund starts dealing with minus temperatures in the double figures, we’re currently on the Algarve to play a couple of training games against Danish and Portuguese opposition and some good quality sessions outside of the indoor arena we’ve been cooped up in since we returned a month ago.

Not that I’ll win many fans by telling you this, but I’m writing this on the hotel patio and it’s 20 degrees.

Awful, I know but if I wasn’t here doing this, somebody else would be.

Now, there’s a lot I miss about playing football but I can assure you, training camps in the sunshine are far better as a coach than a player. The work for us is still morning, noon and night but when football is like this, it’s no hardship.

With the 10 week build-up until the first league of the season, the preparation is more of a gradual process than back home so the sessions are less taxing for the players, particularly compared to when I played.

The players have a much more sensible workload so there aren’t the same broken bodies and spirits as there once was.