Boab 73 Posted March 21, 2008 Share Posted March 21, 2008 It is a price Rangers are happy to pay for the rejuvenation of their fortunes engineered by Smith, but the closing two months of the season will now provide as stern an examination of their conditioning as it will of their already proven resilience. To that end, the contribution of a 27-year-old Welshman who two years ago played for East Stirlingshire could prove crucial. Adam Owen was recruited by Smith as the club's head of sports science 12 months ago on the recommendation of his first team coach Kenny McDowall who had experienced his work in a similar role at Celtic. Owen had left the Parkhead club for Sheffield Wednesday but was happy to accept the offer to return to Glasgow. The former League of Wales player, who turned out for East Stirling during his spell working for Celtic, is regarded as one of the most proficient practitioners of a job which has become pivotal for clubs seeking to cope with the physical demands of the modern game. Christian Dailly, whose renowned levels of fitness are making him an asset to the Rangers squad at the age of 34, believes Owen's influence will be significant in the remaining weeks of the season. "Adam has been brilliant for us," said Dailly. "He's absolutely non-stop, getting on at people the whole time. "We're in and out ice baths all the time, we're eating recovery food the second we come in after training or a game. We eat anything that provides energy and the sooner the better. It's a huge part of what we do – we have to look after ourselves and that's where people like Adam come into things. "I do whatever's needed. Stretching, running, weights, recovery, eating. If you do it properly you can play for a long time. I've done it from an early age and I do believe that as a result your body ages more slowly. But you have to have done it from an early age. "There are demands on us, but I've played the last five games and I feel fine. In an ideal world you'd have no midweek games so that we could do proper training and have recovery time. But that's what life is like at Rangers. Everyone likes playing and it shows how well we're doing that we have so many games. Even when I was at West Ham in the season we got to the FA Cup final, we never had a schedule like this. "It's not asking too much of us to try and keep winning at this level. We're quite happy with that pressure as we want to reach a high standard. We won't hit the heights all the time, but there's no harm in trying. I should get holidays at this rate in 2010. I've never had a season like it, but I love playing and it's good fun. We prepare differently and we're all bang up for it." http://sport.scotsman.com/football/Rangers...pert.3902786.jp Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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