Dundee boss Neil McCann has joked that he will not be giving away too many secrets about his tough pre-season regime – in case some of his players decide to give it a miss.
The Dens manager will welcome his players back from their summer break on Friday with the squad undergoing fitness testing before the hard work begins in earnest.
McCann, of course, experienced many pre-seasons as a player at Dundee, Hearts and Rangers but he has also overseen preparations himself previously while he was helping out at Dunfermline.
McCann is now determined that the Dundee players will hit the ground running in the Betfred Cup ties next month but he admits that there will be fun as well as gruelling fitness work.
The manager said: “Pre-season is going to be tough but it will be absolutely enjoyable.
“I think when I was a player, it was old-school. It was all about running and players used to return to get fit.
“But lads don’t return out of shape any more.
“What I want is for players to enjoy it.
“I did a full pre-season for Jim Jefferies.
“We didn’t have the benefit of a sports scientist or a fitness coach so I did it all.
“To be honest, I found – and Jim will back this up – that the team were really fit.
“But it will be done with the ball as I think it is really important that the guys are still using the ball as well as running.
“Some people call it disguised running.
“Jim’s was a really tough pre-season and when I went to Rangers, it was very different under Dick Advocaat.
“There was running but it was just to find a base and then the ball came out and it was a totally different tempo.”
McCann added: “Everybody has their own ways of working but it will be hard.
“You don’t get to the correct level of fitness until you put in the proper work.
“But it will all be done in a way that the boys will be enjoying it, that’s for sure.
“I am not going to tell the boys what they are getting as some of them might not turn up!
“But seriously, they come back on the 23rd for testing and then we are right into it.”
