SUMMER ended today for Celtic as the players reported to Lennoxtown for the backbreaking toil of shaping up under new boss Tony Mowbray.
SUMMER ended today for Celtic as the players reported to Lennoxtown for the backbreaking toil of shaping up under new boss Tony Mowbray.
And that means days of sweat, sweat, sweat to shed the close-season pounds.
As the clock ticks towards a Champions League third round qualifier in just 26 days, the training will be high-tempo from the off.
Fitness today, of course, combines cutting-edge sports science - and is light years away from the image of players pounding the streets to shake off the summer rust.
But that gruelling regimen remains fixed in the mind of Hoops legend Bertie Auld who can still wince at the memory of reporting back after the holidays.
And he has no doubt even this early period can make or break Celtic's season.
He said: "Tony has to come in and make an almost immediate assessment of the squad he has inherited and where he needs to strengthen and replace.
"With the Champions League qualifier at the end of the month the pressure is on almost straight away.
""But Tony knows what Celtic are all about and the type of football the fans want their team playing and I'm sure he'll provide that.
"But it is good for Tony that he has people at the club like Danny McGrain and John Clark who can help him if he needs it."
As he recalled his first full pre-season with Celtic under legendary Hoops boss Jimmy McGrory back in 1955, Auld admitted that a sense of mischief was never far away from the surface during those body-sapping sessions.
He recalled: "Under Jimmy running was the basis of our pre-season and it did not change much under Jock Stein.
"You always knew, especially under Jock, just what delights awaited you when you would get back and the players would meet up early to get some foundations laid for what was ahead.
"On the first day Jock liked to have us all dropped at Dalry and we would have to run to Seamill.
"He would be there at the start to set us off and back at the finish waiting for us to arrive.
"But I always remember him saying that the heart and lungs provide the basis to good fitness."
Auld admits there were differing attitudes to the importance of fitness.
Irish ace Charlie Tully was scathing when he compared it with the benefits of natural ability.
In contrast, however, towering stopper Bobby Evans was the epitome of professionalism even back in these sepia-tinted days.
And Bertie revealed: "I always remember Charie saying that all the fitness and conditioning in the world couldn't make you a better player and make up for the ability that the Lord left out.
"By contrast Bobby Evans was one of the hardest trainers I ever came across and he shirked nothing.
"With Charlie being an Northern Irish international and Bobby a Scotland international, it did lead to quite a bit of good-humoured banter on the training field.
"But even 50 years ago we recognised that although you could have a few laughs it was vital that you got into the best shape possible.
"The bottom line is that pre-season is where campaigns can be won or lost and I don't think there is any difference in that respect between say 1959 and 2009."
Celtic players arrive back today for start of pre-season training | ||||
 Celtic captain Stephen McManus stops off to sign an autograph for a young fan |  Georgios Samaras |  Scott Brown (front) and Lee Naylor |  Gary Caldwell |  Glenn Loovens |
