Striker Deane Smalley gets set for the new season
Striker Deane Smalley has been talking to Yellow Player about his ambitions for the coming season after signing a new deal with Oxford United. The 24-year-old former Oldham, Chesterfield and Bradford forward this week agreed a new one year contract and is now looking to step up to the plate when the season starts again.
"It’s a great club with great ambition and I’m glad to be a part of that for another season" he told Yellow Player." Everyone knows I underachieved in my first season and my second season was filled with injuries, so hopefully now I can stay injury-free next year and prove to the gaffer and the fans and everyone around Oxford how good I am.
"I plan to keep really fit over the summer. I will have a short break and try and get away with the boys if I can, but the main thing is to keep fit and be ready for pre-season."
Like all of the players Deane has been given a careful programme to stick to over the summer by Strength and Conditioning Coach Alasdair Lane
"Al’s been looking after us; he gives us a four- or five-week schedule, obviously giving us the first week or so, so all the boys will be back fit. I’ve only sat down and gone through it with him once but I don’t think it’ll be too tough because we all know how important it is. He’ll definitely keep us in shape."
First priority for the likeable Smalley will be to find accommodation. With former housemate Simon Heslop now at Stevenage, Deane is going to have to do some house hunting when he returns to Oxford.
"Quite a few of the boys I lived with this year have been released, unfortunately. That’s football, but I’ll have to find a new place to live and then it's a case of looking forward to pre-season again."
See the whole interview, plus Jon Meades and Scott Davies, in Yellow Player now