Tony Daley thrilled by Wolves' pre-season work

The former Wolves winger – and now the club's fitness chief – ended his playing days 14 years ago, but the advances in science and fitness in that time have been enormous.

The current Wolves squad returned to first-team training this week and Daley has been busy putting them through their paces at Compton Park.

And long gone are the days of coming back after a summer break overweight.

Daley said: "The time when I was playing you would get six weeks off and pretty much do nothing for six weeks and then come back and for the first couple of weeks run half marathons to burn some of that fat off that you had gained.

"Some players used to come back a stone overweight – but that doesn't happen anymore.

"The lads have had seven weeks off and within their programmes there will have been a couple of weeks of down time.

"Then it is a gradual build-up so they are ready to start again for pre-season and there are no surprises.

"The players do keep themselves extremely fit and then it is about building up to peak for the first game of the season."

The first three days of pre-season will involve endurance and fitness tests, before the football work starts again on Thursday – but only if the players are ready, as Daley explained.

He said: "They have to reach a certain level before the football work starts again but isn't usually a problem – in fact I'm in my eighth or ninth season now and there hasn't yet been a player who has come back in a state which has meant they can't join in with the football straight away.

"It is good to know where they are and what levels they are at.

"We have about 40 players to go through the testing and they are put into three groups.

"Those tests are rotated over the three days, and then after that they will start doing some football work for the next couple of days along with further endurance work but nothing two tough.

"One of the tests is the yo-yo interval test – in terms of endurance, it is very similar for players in terms of stopping and starting in a match, and high-speed running. It can last from anywhere from eight to 12 minutes in terms of overall running. It can be tough and they are generally shattered afterwards!

"It gives us an idea about what levels they are at and where they are going to be.

"In four weeks' time they will be tested again to see where the levels are and we will probably find a significant improvement.

"The players realise that all the hard work they put in over the next few weeks will pay off during the season and we have got a good bunch who understand the importance.

"It is over the coming weeks that we ramp it all up a little bit and, yes, it will be tough.

"But with our monitoring systems and using GPS we can check and make sure it is a positive influence on the players so that they are not running the risk of picking up injuries."

It's a time when Daley comes into his own.

And the former Villa man said he enjoyed these few weeks more than any other during the season.

"It is probably my busiest time and my most enjoyable time in the season," he added.

"It is about getting the players ready and is a time when the sports science staff can have an influence on what we are going to do this season.

"It is a great opportunity to increase the levels of fitness in terms of endurance, speed, power, agility, and is vital that we use this time wisely and are professional."