Wolves embark on pre-season tour of Scotland

Wolves made the journey to Andy Murray country today – and their players already have a feeling for the ritual the new Wimbledon champion has endured.

Kenny Jackett's squad are staying in Murray's hometown of Dunblane for six days and training at Stirling University, three and a half miles away.

Jackett has had the players in at 7.30am every weekday since a week last Wednesday for the first of three training sessions per day.

And after almost two weeks of the lung-bursting schedule, they boarded their coach at Molineux at 9am today with few signs that the hard work is letting up.

They prepared to continue their gruelling regime north of the border, a day after Murray ran almost 300 metres further than rival Novak Djokovic in just the first set alone.

Jackett said: "We travelled this morning, we are training in the afternoon, then tomorrow morning and Wednesday morning, on the day of the East Fife game."

Murray has a '77' connection – on the seventh day of the seventh month he became the first British male to win Wimbledon in 77 years and the first Brit to win a singles title there since Virginia Wade in 1977.

Like Murray, Wolves hope they have struck upon a lucky omen, too.

They return for a training camp in Scotland for the first time since 2008, which preceded their promotion to the Premier League as Championship champions.

Jackett lowered his guard to reveal he likes the stat, saying: "That's fine – I love all that stuff."

But like Murray – who has worn the Wolves shirt at tournaments given to him by Molineux fan John Lloyd in 2008 - he is really into the business of being a winner.

And he sees the best way to do that by being as fit as possible, with a more varied routine than the players would have been used to.

Jackett said: "I think to do three sessions a day, you generally in a working environment need to get up early and get working.

"It's a good habit to get into and in pre-season, it's something I've always done.

"It's good to lay down some foundations and then you can properly separate a running session, a football session and a gym session.

"Then I can look at the content of each section. For example, the middle one is a warm-up with football – whatever drills I think are needed, whether it be finishing, defending, passing and heading, etc.

"As for the running, it starts long, with trainers on a hard surface to start with to toughen the legs, then we move on to shorter stuff more relevant to football with boots on."

In Mick McCarthy's time, Wolves players were given the choice of taking up weekly pilates sessions offered to them.

Only a few did so, now similar work is a staple under Jackett.

The Wolves boss said: "The gym-based sessions can be anything from weight training and physical conditioning to core work to mobility to yoga. You get variation in all of those areas and you can specify.

"I like to separate each section because those three aspects cover every aspect of training, then you can get the right thing at the right time after that."

The early starts aren't just to get players into a routine.

Jackett believes the rest between each session is as important as the session itself to prepare correctly for the next one.

He said: "We make sure we minimise the risk of injuries because you can't be a true training club and not get any injuries – it doesn't happen.

"But spreading it out by starting early does give you the chance and the opportunity to stretch properly in between and eat well, recover and be ready to go again."

Diet is also a vital part of Jackett's strict regime – gone are the varied menus, replaced by healthier choices for breakfast and lunch.

Jackett said: "They had a massive and varied diet here – they have had a very good variety of food.

"I and we have probably made sure there are now fewer choices and more specific foods, so you are pushing them in the right direction.

"It's so they are consistent in their eating habits and, like every football club, what we feed them here, we hope shows them what they should eat outside of here.

"It's an education – the food that's at the training ground should be replicated when they are not working here, such as in the evenings, when they are eating their main meal.

"It's also that they can see what is the right food and so that they can buy the right food."

Jackett is happy the facilities at their Stirling University training base are top class and that the opposition will be the right test.

He said: "It's good and the games are good – they are lively. In general, there is normally some doubt as to the quality of the pitches when you go on tour to Scotland – you can't quite find the training pitches.

"But the facilities are very good – Kevin Thelwell and Tony Daley both came here beforehand and everything is in tip-top condition."