Follow Stein’s example in preparing to win

Fraser Forster has missed the last two games with a neck injury, which Neil Lennon suggested could have been sustained as a result of sleeping on an unfamiliar pillow in Spain last week.  Fraser has been treated by a chiropractor but it might be a few games before he is back between the posts.

This is a known phenomenon.  As well as bikes, spare tyres and pumps the GB Olympic cycling team make sure that each cyclist brings their own orthopaedic pillow on each journey.  Olympic cyclists, like professional footballers, are finely tuned athletes who stress their bodies each day.  Muscles are continually bashed and stretched making their bodies especially vulnerable a whole range of ailments.

The GB Olympic cycle team also used heated trousers.  To be best of my knowledge velodromes are not particularly cold but as much as any type of athlete, cyclists require their leg muscles to go from rest to full throttle in an instant.  Warm muscles are less prone to hamstring, calf, rolled ankle and ligament damage.

Did all this fine tuning get them anywhere?  GB cyclists won 7 out of 10 gold medals available to them, so they are doing something right.  Jock Stein was the first British manager to take food with the team when they played away in Europe, soon everyone was doing it.  The need to find ways of ensuring Celtic are as well prepared as possible for every training session and game remains just as important.

Orthopaedic pillows and 20 minutes in heated trousers before warm-up would cost less than £1000.  They would support neck muscles and potentially reduce our horrendous muscle-injury record. Best practice suggests we look into this.
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