As Argyle's pre-season continues with a training camp in Spain, Charlie Price provides an alternative look at what is going on in the sunshine.
Whether Tom Cleverley is planning on adopting the ‘Heavy Metal Football’ philosophy, made famous by Jurgen Klopp, the music genre was most definitely a hot topic of conversation around the lunch table on day one of the Greens’ pre-season camp in Spain.
Argyle’s players are used to seeing autograph hunters and supporters wanting a selfie waiting for them outside of hotels, but on Sunday afternoon it wasn’t our boys who were the subject of the patient fanatics; no, they were there for the iconic Iron Maiden. Yes, you heard that right, British music giants Iron Maiden.
“You haven’t seen Bruce Dickinson in there have you?” One man in a green football shirt asked me - (I know what you’re thinking, no it wasn’t an Argyle top, it was a Mexican one…).
“No, sorry,” was my response. Now, I will admit right away, I had no idea who Bruce Dickinson was. I didn’t let this onto our green shirted friend, but he could still tell.
“You know, the singer from Iron Maiden, the whole band are in there. Have you not seen them?”
Again, I shook my head in response, but now the hordes of people outside the entrance to our hotel made a little more sense.
I walked down the steep slope to the event space where we gather to eat and where the team meetings take place and couldn’t help but smile to myself. We’ve come to the southeast of Spain, to a golf resort in La Torre and we’re staying in the same hotel as one of the most recognisable bands in British music history.
And yet, not only did I not know the names of the people in Iron Maiden, I also couldn’t think of any of their songs. So, equipped with my new, and actually quite interesting, piece of information, I made it my task to see how many of the staff or players could name an Iron Maiden song.
The short answer is none, but there was plenty of chat around the lunch table about it.
These little moments, the down time, the time when training and football is not at the front of everybody’s minds are my favourite aspects of these trips. This is my fourth pre-season camp now and all of them have been in the searing heat of Spain.
You’ll know from the daily videos shown on Argyle TV and through the brilliant blogs, of which I am trying and probably failing to match, from Dan Cole and Rob McNichol in previous years, that these days away when you’re with your teammates and colleagues 24/7 are intense and sometimes you just need that little something to break up the seriousness.
That can be a chat about your holiday in the summer; a quiz question (and let me tell you, Tom Cleverley loves a quiz question), it might be a chat about the food that day, a game of cards or table tennis, whatever it is, they’re the moments, for me anyway, that make these camps so special.
But even after getting most of the travelling party to see if they could name a track, we drew a blank. Sorry Iron Maiden, I’m sure we’ll Remember Tomorrow.
Anyway, to the football. Holy Smoke, it looked tough. But when doesn’t it?
On the previous three trips to Spain, I and the team have gone to Estepona on the south coast, this time we’re about 300 miles northeast, but the set-up is very similar.
We’re in a massive hotel which is perfectly equipped for every need. Fantastic rooms, a great private space for food and meetings, a swimming pool, a place to have some down time to play table tennis or pool and all of that is a short five-minute walk to a magnificent football facility.
It always boggles my mind how pristine the pitches are out here despite the surrounding area being so dry, testament to the Pinatar Football Centre staff. Nevertheless, you wouldn’t expect anything less, what with the due diligence that goes into making these trips what they are.
Another similarity to previous trips is that I am so glad I am here on a watching and reporting brief rather than a playing one. My goodness it looks difficult, Hell on Earth.
If you take the fact that the pitch side thermometer is showing 40 degrees Celsius out of it; the running, effort and amount of information they are asked to do is remarkable. But again, you wouldn’t expect anything less.
It’s well known by now just how thorough Tom and his team are. (If you aren’t aware watch the Behind The Greens episode on Argyle TV where we follow Tom for a day!)
The players were worked hard, and the training is meticulously structured, but there is also a huge amount of fun being had.
One minute, the likes of Lorent Tolaj and Bradley Ibrahim would be stood gasping for air after they had been pushed through a final and brutal run, the next they would be at the Teqball table laughing away and squabbling over whether one or the other had served correctly.
That is just the way it is with this squad; work hard but have fun whilst you’re doing it. That was, from my uneducated eye anyway, one of the reasons why we had such a good run in the second half of last season, the players loved what they were doing and were doing it for their mates, and that is obviously the message again. It’s clear there is a Burning Ambition to work hard for each other.
Anyway, for those who didn’t realise, I did manage to smuggle a few ‘now remembered and definitely not Googled’ Iron Maiden songs into this piece.
I make no apologies for that, but I am going to take myself off to bed. There is a game of football to try and get up for at about 2am and another full day of training planned to be ready for.
So, I will be back tomorrow to see what Day two brings for Argyle, it’s players and staff out here in La Torre.