It's Finally Here

Well, here we are at last, pre-season - the time where players who have overindulged over the last few months wake up every morning in a cold sweat. I’ve known players who wake up at 5 in the morning, sit in the sauna for four hours with the hope of losing a few pounds before the morning weigh-in. Fortunately, most of today's players realize the importance of staying in shape, so watching players doubled over sick on the side of the pitch is more a thing of the past.

The players have been arriving from all over the world in the past couple weeks. I hope they all realize how lucky they are to be getting paid to play this incredible game. I was 25 before I realized how fortunate I was.

We have some interesting signings to announce over the coming weeks that we believe will make a big contribution to what we are trying to achieve over the coming seasons. I will talk more about them in the coming months.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank all our supporters who came out to support us last Saturday on what turned out to be the coldest, windiest day since I arrived here in Austin. My mother, who arrived from England for the game, told me she never realized Austin was a suburb of Siberia. I think she will be thawed out for the game against the Dynamo on Saturday.

To be honest, I thought we started both halves very poorly, but got better as the game went on. To be fair to both teams, a strong wind is the one element that normally gets the better of the game and I think that happened on Saturday.
We played all 22 players that are in camp to give them an opportunity to impress and we will make decisions on their futures over the coming weeks.

We have a new group of players trying out this week, so expect to see a few new faces on Saturday. We are training twice a day at the moment and I have to say the players’ attitude to our difficult training program has been magnificent. The fitness levels are rising and I think you will see a sharper looking team this weekend against the Dynamo.

See you Saturday and don’t forget the sunscreen!

Adrian