Hard Work Has Begun - Johnson

Wednesday, May 11th 2016

Lee Johnson has sent his players on their way for their summer holidays – but will be keeping a close eye on them from afar.

Bristol City's head coach has handed each of them heart-rate monitors to track their progress over the summer months.

Meanwhile, Johnson has already set his sights on recruiting the right type of players geared towards push in the top half of the Sky Bet Championship next season.

He told bcfc.co.uk: “The players came in on Monday and that was their final day. They all know what is expected of them (over the summer).

“They’ve all been given heart-rate monitors so we can track and record all the work they’ve been doing. There will also be checkpoints over the summer for them.

“The work has started already for me.

“I’m going to be jet-setting all over the world. I’m going to Scotland, Denmark, Belgium, Germany…I’ll be attending the play-off finals.

“I’m aiming to get a family holiday in because it’s important to get the work-life balance right.

“We’ve got a lot of work to do. Already the tempo has picked up in terms of recruitment. We’ve been talking to lots of agents and everyone is aware of what a good project Bristol City is to be involved in.

“Realistically there will be players in the Euros, but they would command a fee, depending on how successful their tournament is. There are already a number of players we are monitoring.

“Getting the recruitment right is so important and it’s going to be difficult in this window. To get a true reflection of one of my teams it would take three windows. That’s just being honest; but of course we’ll be looking to do everything in our powers to fast track that process, given the volume we need to do.

“It’s important to get the numbers in the squad right because we don’t want to get caught short, especially with the new rules on loans.”