Quote Originally Posted by ragingpup View Post
Only my opinion, but it is the manager's (all of them!) as well as fitness and coaching staff to make sure that the players are physically strong and in the right conditi!on. They work for and are paid quite well by the club and the club staff should be doing whatever is needed in working time to make sure that the players build strangth and conditioning. I'm quite shocked by Clark and fans seeming to indicate that it is all on the players. Players are humans and if allowed an easier path by their managers, many will choose the easy path. You'll get this in any poorly run business.

Clark may well be correct in what he has found but the fault for that surely lays witth the previous managers aand culture of the club. To blame the players entrely is 1) pointing the responsibility elsewhere from where it should be and 2) will likely cause un undesirable response from the players you do have, especially those who are doing everything they can for the Millers. I find it quite worrying that Clark seems to come at things from this position of helplessness and heaping responsibility on the players, especially if he is being considered beyond the end of the season.

I'd me much more encouraged if he's have said words to the effect of "Yes, I can see now what is happening, a culture has developed where the fitness and conditioning of the players has been under developed and is the main cause of so many injuries. But I know what needs to be done and going forward (if employed for next season) we need to develop X programmes for the players, fitness and conditioning plans that will address this". These would be easy words for anyone to say of course, and the proof of the pudding would be in time whether he can produce results based on his diagnosis, but I'd be more reassured if he was going down these lines instead of heaping it all on the players.

Not saying the players don't have a big responsibility for their diet and lifestyle, but the club management should always be responsible for directing and monitorig them to stay within the conditioning levels that they want to see.
In effect Clark is telling them to do more. I?m sure they have strengthening exercises that they can follow. There is only so much they can do in the hours they have at the training ground. Just as they have to eat responsibly, they also have the responsibility to try and stay as strong as possible.

I?m sure you do extra planning and research for your job in your spare time just for your own personal development if anything. Footballers are paid very well and should be doing this anyway. If they are doing it and are that easily injured then I would say they are in the wrong job (or not considering they then get paid for doing very little). If they aren?t doing everything they can to stay as fit as possible, and let?s be honest, they haven?t got talent alone to rely on, then they will struggle.

If I was invited to play in a friendly 11 a side match at NYS during pre season I would try and be as ready as possible and that?s not even getting paid for it.