Blackpool in Spain - Who was there, daily structure, and benefits

Pre-season isn’t meant to be easy - as the Blackpool squad discovered during their warm weather training camp in Spain.

After reporting back to Bloomfield Road last week, the Seasiders headed out to a base near Jerez last Saturday.

The Gazette was invited down to spend a couple of nights in Andalusia to get a behind-the-scenes look at what the preparations looked like.

Who was there

The entire first-team squad and staff were in attendance in Spain, including all five new signings (Fraser Horsfall, Michael Ihiekwe, George Honeyman, Niall Ennis and Franco Ravizzoli) as well as the latest addition to Steve Bruce’s coaching staff Stephen Clemence.

Sporting director David Downes and the club’s scouts were also among those to head out to the camp last weekend, while owner Simon Sadler arrived on Monday.

Opportunities for youngsters

Alongside the senior players, Blackpool also took a number of their youngsters over to Spain, including Harvey Bardsley, Theo Upton, Spencer Knight and Terry Bondo.

They were completely integrated with the rest of the squad, and competed in all training sessions.

Daily structure

From the days we were in attendance, the schedule consisted of breakfast at around 8am before a morning training session an hour later.

The team would then have lunch around midday, while an option for a snack would be available in the afternoon before a period of rest.

A second training session would occur in the evening, before dinner at night.

A wide selection of food options were available to the players at meal times, with their dining room based in a different location to the main hotel they were staying in.

While the club did have its own distinctive area in the hotel, the players would also mix in the general communal spots.

On Tuesday, the players were given extra free time, with only a morning session - which allowed some to play golf and others to venture out of the resort.

Training sessions

With the temperature over 40 degrees for most of the last week in Jerez, training was certainly gruelling for Bruce’s squad.

The sessions would start with a run, before progressing into more football-based activities.

On Monday evening, the squad took part in their first 11 V 11.

Who took part?

There didn’t appear to be any injury concerns for the Seasiders. Honeyman was absent from some of the sessions at the beginning of the week with a knock, but appeared to feature in the last few days.

Meanwhile, Kylian Kouassi, who had a loan spell with Salford City cut short due to a hamstring problem, was involved in the sessions.

Personal experience

It was interesting to have a behind-the-scenes look at how the players interacted on a trip like this. The doors were very much open to be around the squad at meal times and watch on during their training sessions.

It’s clear these types of trips are beneficial for team bonding, especially for the new players.

They’re thrown into an environment together where they will quickly build relationships.

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