And so it starts again!

Tomorrow is the first day of pre-season. The guys have been arriving back in town all week, ready for Monday. We are delighted to welcome back Eddie, Sully, Cally, Kevin and the rest of the guys who are returning for their 2nd season. They are joined by lots of new faces, Lawrence Olum, Jay Needham, Leonard Griffin, Ben Dragavon and several more to come. I have to say that all the guys who have come by the office look in good shape, so hopefully Adrian won't have to work them too hard!

I know Adrian and Bobby have been looking forward to Monday, they have been itching to get started again and put the boys through their paces. Adrian is a big believer in using the ball and small sided games to get the team fit, so the guys can expect to see lots of the ball in the next few weeks!

The guys will have just a few days to get ready for the Dynamo on Sunday. That will be a stiff test given that the Dynamo have been in pre-season for almost a month already and have played several competitive games. The Dynamo come to Austin on March 14th for our annual friendly with the Houston club. The friendly will be our very last game at Nelson Field, as we will play ALL our regular season games at our new home, House Park.

Season tickets are on sale and we have had great feedback from fans about the "flexible" nature of the tickets. It would be great to see House Park full every week, so if you have a friend or colleague who is a soccer fan tell them about the GREAT DEAL on season tickets, 30% cheaper than last year and flexible tickets you can use anytime during the season.

Everyone has been talking about the Stoke/Arsenal game and the unfortunate injury to Aaron Ramsey - the newspapers and pundits seem to be in agreement that it was an accident, not malicious or intentional. Knowing Ryan personally, I know that he is not the kind of player to purposefully go out to injure another player. I hope he can put this behind him and impress during his call up to the national team.

Phil