Newcastle United players can be assured of at least one thing when the 2022/23 season gets under way - they will certainly hit the ground running this time thanks to the arrival of new lead sports scientist Liam Mason.
Players getting the hard yards in during pre-season is hardly a revelation, apart from at Newcastle some players felt that they weren't fit enough when this season got under way. Callum Wilson stated: "I'd say first game of the season, we weren't fit enough in terms of being ready for a Premier League fixture."
Wilson's honesty was followed up by other players saying that under Eddie Howe the "long and intense" sessions were resulting in some early nights during his early days in charge. But Howe has already made one backroom signing in Mason that will ensure that this pre-season could set Newcastle up to be at their sharpest ever in terms offitness.
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For all the talk of summer signings, Howe may have made one of the most important additions of his tenure already when luring Mason to the north east. Howe has gone week by week at Newcastle but he and his staff will be eager to start a new season with their backroom team in place and a clean slate in terms of results.
It's easy to forget the clouds of gloom that hovered over Benton when they first arrive at the start of a long hard winter. But now Mason will arrive at a club that knows which division they're going to be in next season - these are really exciting times.
Mason, a graduate of South Wales University, will join the Magpies from Blackburn Rovers in June. He'll say farewell to staff after Blackburn's final game against Birmingham City on Saturday after eight years at Ewood Park.
His mantra on pre-season has been clear at Blackburn, he said in 2021: "The aim of pre-season is to ensure we can arrive at that first game of the season and meet the physical demands that the manager requires of the players.
"We have this six-week period now to grade them up, without pushing the players too hard in that first week. Last week, back at the Senior Training Centre, that was used as a week to reintroduce the players back into football after the six-week off-season.
"We’ve gradually built things up and this week is about conditioning their football movements. They’ve done a lot of running, but we’re also keen to manage that load."
Howe is also bringing in a nutritionist this summer and his views on diet were clear last year. He said then: "Whenever a new manager goes into a new club you always look at fitness levels. This is not disrespecting anybody's regime but you always want a little bit more."
Journalists thought Howe was joking when asked about a biscuit ban at the training ground last year. After Premier League bosses Steven Gerrard and Antonio Conte banned tomato ketchup, Howe said in November: "I haven't banned ketchup at the moment. I will speak to our nutritionists to see if that's something we need to do. Biscuits aren't flying around here I can assure people of that. "There are things we have banned, our sports science team."
This could become stricter again this summer when new staff arrive but Howe is big on sports science. Mason will work with Dan Hodges from pre-season onwards.
