This Saturday, Sheffield United go into Saturday's First Division Play-off semi-final against Nottingham Forest having played nearly 60 games.

But the Blades have their secret weapon, which they hope will help them win them promotion to the Premiership, after a hectic schedule. While manager Neil Warnock, his assistant Kevin Blackwell and the players take the plaudits for the success, one less-known personality has been working wonders behind the scenes at Bramall Lane, Fitness Coach Dean Riddle.

 

When Warnock replaced Adrian Heath as manager of the Blades in December 1999, he was far from keen on having a fitness coach and Riddle feared he'd be on his way after only a few months.

"I was going to be the first one out of the door! Neil said he hadn't had one before, so why would he need one now. But Kevin Blackwell suggested he should give me a try for a month and see what I was about. A few weeks later they agreed to keep me on for the remainder of the season and the rest is history," he exlained.

"Neil now says he wouldn't do without a fitness coach because he has seen the benefits of it. I certainly believe it has been a strong contribution to our success on the field.

"We have scored around 42 per cent of our goals in the last twenty minutes. Our work ethic is to never give up. The players here are fit and are able to keep going when other teams start to fade. But it's something which we have been building for a number of years, not a couple of months."

 

At a time when money is becoming scarce in football, many clubs are having to downsize their staff to lower the wage bill. The employment of a fitness coach may be viewed as a luxury in certain quarters, but Riddle insists that should not be the case.

"In that situation, I believe you need a fitness coach because you have to make the most of what you have got," said Riddle. "I know at some clubs where they are looking to cut costs after a poor season, the fitness coaches are the first out of the door. That is stupid and completely the wrong way to do it.

"A fitness coach is in place because it is an essential piece of football. Managers have enough on with man-managing the players, working on their tactics and coaching. They don't need to be doing warm-ups and looking after all the fitness elements.

"In Australian Rugby League, their attitude is that they need a pitch to play on, a ball to play with, a kit to wear, a group of players and a fitness coach, all in the same breath. That is their acceptance of it. "

 

While every player up and down the country will be looking forward to the summer to help re-charge their batteries, they will all be given strict orders from their clubs to keep in shape.

Riddle explains: "We will be giving our players a handbook with individual guidelines on what they have to do during the summer. You want them to have a break from it, because when they get back you are going to be working them very hard. But we also want them to maintain a certain level of fitness, so we give them what is called 'active rest'."

So what should a footballer, both professional and amateur, do in their own time to maintain a certain level of fitness over the summer?

"Before you start your serious pre-season training, I recommend doing about four weeks of activity to help condition your body. You need to have done something before you start because if you go in from ground zero you tend to suffer from hamstring and calf strains.

"What they definitely don't want to do is a lot of road running. Instead they should do cross-training, which means playing other sports, like tennis, squash, swimming, bike rides and light jogging in parks. You have to vary what you do, that is very important and something we push our players into doing.

"We have also started to do something called contrast-bathing, where we put the players into ice cold baths after games. We make them get into a nice cold bath for 30 seconds, then into a warm bath for two and a half minutes and back in to the cold bath. We make them do that three times. This flushes the blood and helps remove a lot of the waste products produced by the muscle during a football match.
"It's very cruel and very painful, but it works very well and the players have certainly felt the benefits from it. You should try it!"

Not just now thanks, Dean.

Steven Hutton.