If there was a singular area of concern before results really fell off a cliff with Giovanni van Bronckhorst among Rangers fans, it was that the squad didn’t look as fit as it had been in previous seasons.
Objectively, there are reasons for this; a congested fixture list, trying to compete with elite teams in the Champions League and a horrendous injury list that meant the same players had to be selected week in, week out.
Reports claim that the players were posting the same fitness test scores, however, an “easier” pre-season programme will also have been a factor.
Interestingly, Ross Wilson never replaced Jordan Milsom as head of performance, Gio brought in another physio with a strength and conditioning background but he didn’t fill the same role.
That has all changed with the appointment and the announcement that Dr Jack Ade has left his role as Liverpool’s head of elite fitness development and Under-21 fitness coach to head north and join Michael Beale’s revolution as our head of performance.
Ade has a CV that would take up an article in itself but PhD, status as an accredited strength and conditioning coach with the UK Strength and Conditioning Association, published research and inclusion in FIFA’s Physical Analysis Report in 2019 for high intensity position-specific training drills that he had created and were being recommended suggests that we have acquired a truly elite practitioner.
A workman can only work with the tools that they have but it looks like the tools that Beale has at his disposal are about to become and awful lot sharper.