Russell Martin is excited to take his MK Dons squad to St. George’s Park this week, as pre-season preparations ramp up ahead of the 2021/22 campaign.
The Dons will spend five days in Burton-upon-Trent, where they will be able to make use of state-of-the-art facilities that, just a couple of weeks ago, were being used by the England national team during their EURO 2020 campaign.
“It’s going to be a brilliant week,” Martin told iFollow MK Dons. “Being in a different environment – an environment which is one of the best for football in the country – will add a real spring to everyone’s step.
“The amount of time we’ll get on the training pitch and in the meeting rooms, will help us but it’s not just that - the chats we’ll be able to have in the games rooms and at the dinner table will be really important for us as we look to build connections and relationships.”
Martin added: “If you compare this pre-season to last, it’s night and day. Last pre-season we were confined to what we could do and that made it hard to build connections and cohesions. This is much more positive and it has us in a good place.
“We are pleased with where the guys are at physically, which is what the last few weeks has all been about. We’ve had very few people, to this point, who have had to miss sessions. They’ve been brilliantly managed by the Sports Science team.
“Mentally they are in a really good place too. We have a group of, predominantly, young men who are hungry to improve and get better; to listen and take in details; and to work really hard for each other – that’s the mentality we are going to need if we are to get better and improve.”
Martin concluded: “There is still a long way to go and there are things we need to work hard on but there plenty to be positive about.”
