Oxford United’s players will get two days off over Christmas but that meant plenty of hard running on Christmas Eve as the squad were put through their paces with a run up Shotover Hill.
As Boss Karl Robinson told us, it’s a traditional way for the U’s to get fit!
“When we first moved to the Bangkok Glass Training Centre I looked out and could see a hill in the distance and someone said “that’s Shotover, where the players used to run for every pre-season”. I love that sort of tradition and found out that when Ron Atkinson, the captain in the 60’s managed Aston Villa he brought the whole squad down here just to run up that same hill!
“I go for a run almost every day and often run up Shotover and back to the Training Ground and I just thought it would be a good way of getting the players out and doing something different- running up hills isn’t something we do every day! - and connecting them with the traditions of the club.
“They worked hard and Steve Seddon bringing his dog to save going for a walk later made us all laugh, but now they get to go home, have a couple of days off with the families and then we’ll be back in on the 27th and getting ready for a big game at home on 29th.”
