Blackpool’s players adjust to a new way of working

Blackpool captain Jay Spearing says the change in routine caused by the lockdown of English football over the coronavirus outbreak has been a shock to the system.
Blackpool's Jay SpearingBlackpool's Jay Spearing
Blackpool's Jay Spearing

All Pool players have been given individual training programmes to complete at home for the foreseeable future.

The Seasiders have been advised by the EFL not to train together until April 3 at the earliest, although this date will inevitably be put back.

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Spearing admits the change has taken some adjusting to, but the 31-year-old says the players will remain professional.

“From the age of seven I’ve been in the routine of going to football and doing it week in, week out on a daily basis,” he told BBC Merseyside.

“I think when you come to the summertime, when the season has finished, you are ready for that break.

“But to have it taken away from us all of a sudden is a shock to the system and you have to try and give yourself a new routine, whether that be getting up at a certain time, going for a run and setting yourself targets for the day.

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“It is a shock to the system but everyone will do their own thing in different ways.”

The players are kept in regular contact with the club’s head of sports science, Ross Jones, to keep as fit as possible.

But, as Spearing warns, there’s a big difference between normal fitness and the sort of match fitness required by professional footballers.

He added: “From the second we got the phone call and the meeting to tell us not to come in and the club will be sending individual programmes out, the fitness coach has been sending us stuff to try and match what we’d do on a daily basis.

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“Going into the weekend, on a Saturday he’s asked us to do a 10 or 11km run to try and replicate a game scenario.

“But the difference between running and that game sharpness are two completely different things.”

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