Partick Thistle step up pre-season preparations
THE Partick Thistle faithful will have the opportunity to meet the players tomorrow (Saturday) ahead of the squad's first friendly of the season away to Queen's Park.
The match, which kicks off at 3pm, will be the first of three matches before the Jags get down to the real business against Clyde in the Challenge Cup on July 24.
For newly ap-pointed assistant manager Ian Maxwell this will be a challenging start to the season, despite helping boss Ian McCall unofficially in the role at the end of last season.
The former St Mirren player, who also had spells at Queen's Park, St Johnstone and Ross County, is no stranger to the pre-season build-up, but this time he says it's different because he is more involved in the decision-making.
He said: "It's different in as much as I'm now involved in setting things up on the training ground and helping to get the boys as fit as they can be whilst trying to limit the potential to pick up injuries."
Maxwell reckons building up the squad's fitness is very important with a lot of hard work going into this before players even get near a ball.
He said: "The players were given close season fitness programmes to follow and that helped make sure they came back in for pre-season training in good shape.
"Gone are the days of players coming back a stone over-weight. Players realise that if they keep themselves in shape over the summer then pre-season training won't be quite as hard."
And in the run up to the season's first friendly, he said: "The last few days have been pretty hard and have largely focused on conditioning work. What helps keep the players going during the hard slog of the first week or so of pre-season training is the thought of getting back into action even in a low key surrounds of a pre-season friendly.
"I think all players are desperate to see the footballs coming out. Never mind the start of the actual season, I'm looking forward to the game with Queen's Park at St Andrews. No matter how hard you train, nothing beats taking part in a match."
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Weather for Milngavie
Friday 25 May 2012
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Temperature: 12 C to 24 C
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