City Fit And Ready To Go

Bristol City manager Steve Cotterill says that his side are looking good and primed for the curtain opener at Sheffield United on Saturday.

This last few weeks has seen Cotterill take charge of pre-season training for the first time and concentration has been set about getting the squad fitter than they were last season when they got off to quite a bad early season.

Five friendly matches were aranged for pre-season this time around, as well as a tour of South Africa and Botswana. There has also been lots of work done on the technical side of City’s game.

Speaking to the Bristol Post earlier this week, Cotterill said: ‘You only have a limited amount of time to get your players fit and that’s what we have focussed on.

‘Without that fitness, you have nothing to coach throughout the season. Pre-season is your one opportunity to get miles in your players’ legs.

‘Apparently, they didn’t have the best of pre-seasons last year for whatever reasons. I suppose I shouldn’t repeat that really, but that is the hearsay.

‘We wanted to make sure we had a good pre-season and I feel as though we have done. I don’t think there is anything we would have changed or done differently and we now need to take that into the league season.’