It was Ken Furphy, the most successful manager in Workington Reds’ Football League days, who brought a new twist to pre-season training.
He took them camping in the Lake District where they gained fitness benefits from the fellside running he organised, and improved morale and camaraderie through spending time together under canvas.
It’s a theme a number of managers have adopted since – some well above Reds’ current station, and others below – but it’s a plan with adaptations that current boss Danny Grainger is happy to go along with.
Grainger left to join Falkirk during the pre-season build-up last year and there was general agreement that by the time they kicked-off the 2021/22 season Reds were not as fit and finely tuned as they might have been.
That shouldn’t be the case this time round and over the week-end Grainger and his assistant Steven Rudd put 18 members of the squad through a vigorous training schedule at Beacon Hill in the Penrith area.
It was back to ball work at the Tuesday training session and more of the same on Thursday ahead of Reds’ opening home friendly on Saturday against a Blackburn Rovers side.
It’s the first of three games at Borough Park in the space of a week as Reds face Dumbarton on Tuesday night and host Carlisle United the following Saturday (July 9).
So far Grainger, who has lost four experienced players, has brought in the former Marine pair of Lewis Reilly and Ben Hughes, along with former Kendal and Penrith midfielder Greg McCarragher.
He has been looking at a number of trialists in training and in the opening friendly, a 4-1 win at Whitehaven Amateurs last Thursday.
One of them is Jordan Palmer who cracked-in over 30 goals for Carlisle City in their Northern League Division Two title-winning season.
City manager Jim Nichols, a good friend of Grainger, certainly believes Palmer can make the step-up.
“He was my first-signing when I started at City. He’s from Shap and played for his local side. He’s scored 70-odd goals in just over 100 games for us and although it would be a blow to lose him I do think he’s capable of playing at a higher level,” said Nichol.
