Pre-season training can be tough, demanding and difficult to get through, whether you’re a Sunday league football player or a professional, and it can take a considerable amount of time to get up to speed.

Pre-season is all about regaining fitness, and it’s crucial whether you play for a rugby team, a cricket tea or a rowing club. The ultimate aim is to make sure you’re ready to give 100 percent when the competitive matches begin, and you can soon find yourself on the sidelines if you haven’t trained hard enough.

In football, it’s common to pick up injuries during pre-season, and that’s because the body goes from relaxed mode into intensive training, so you have to be careful and give yourself some recovery time between sessions. Make sure you prepare well for your next season ahead, whatever sport you’re involved in.

If you’re thinking about joining a Sunday league football team for the first time, then there are a few things you should know.

1. You have to pay for red and yellow cards. Not many people are aware of this until they get their first booking or red card, but you do get fined like professional footballers, and whilst it’s more like £20 rather than £20,000, it does happen.
2. Linesman are the subs. Referees often have to rely on the two teams to run the line, so if you’re a sub for a game, there’s a chance you could be running up and down the line with a flag until another player takes over.
3. Poor quality pitches or bad weather doesn’t postpone a match. Whether you pitch is waterlogged, or whether it’s covered with mole holes, the game often goes on, no matte how dangerous it is.

It’s surprising to think that Manchester United were crowed Premier League champions in 2013, especially considering the fact that they finished in 7^th place last season, 5 positions behind rivals Liverpool.

With no European football on the cards this term and the signing of Radamel Falcao, they may be able to pick up some consistency and reach a Europa League or Champions league spot this season.

There’s no doubt that the squad needs some time to gel, but so far it’s been a disappointing start to the new campaign under Louis van Gaal. The 2014-15 season began with an opening day defeat to Swansea at Old Trafford, yet they have since been knocked out of the league cup by Milton Keynes Dons.

All fans will be keeping an eye on Manchester United’s performances this season, while United fans will be hoping for major improvements.

The Court of Arbitration for Sport has today ruled, that Luis Suarez’s four month ban will have to be completed. The Uruguayan hit-man was appealing his ban, a sanction which was imposed by FIFA after he stupidly attempted to bite Italian defender Giorgio Chiellini during a World Cup game in June.

The news means that Suarez will still have to wait till October 25th to play for new team Barcelona, but one bit of positive news is that he will now be allowed to train with his team throughout the suspension. Originally he was banned from all footballing-activity, but this has been relaxed as his legal team attempted to argue the fact, that as the incident took place whilst the player was in an international top, the sanction should be limited to international football. The three-man panel disagreed, but decided to let Suarez train again. Hopefully he’s learnt his lesson!

There have been many results and incidents so far in this World Cup that not many people would have expected. Some would say that the Luis Suarez bite incident was expected, but if it was then there wouldn’t be the reaction there has been.

England being knocked out of the World Cup probably is not so surprising but the fact that they were knocked out in their first two games must have been a shock to many. The biggest surprise has to be the fact that Spain plummeted out of the World Cup, but at least they finished their tournament with a win.

Although many Brits have returned home, there are bound to be more surprise along the way, but that’s what makes the World Cup such a special competition. The favourites are still Brazil, while Holland and Germany are also heavily backed, but who knows it could be the Greeks or Belgium who come out on top.

Ryan Giggs has been announced as the Manchester United interim boss following David Moyes being sacked. Giggs, now 40 years old has been in the squad since 1992 and enjoyed a wide array of successes in his career. Playing over 962 games Manchester United fans are eager to see the transition from player to coach.

After being under the football coaching legend Sir Alex Ferguson he has now embraced the challenge ahead of him. With 4 matches left in the season he and the team are in high spirits, even though they are sitting 7th in the league behind Tottenham.

Taking the “dream come true” role on with open arms, he has supported the team since the tender age of 13. Giggs sought some advice from Sir Alex Ferguson and placed fellow “Class of 92” team members Paul Scholes, Phil Neville and Nicky Butt as part of the coaching team.

The upcoming game on the 26th April against Norwich City will mark Ryan Giggs first official coaching debut for the Man Utd legend that win or lose will go down in the clubs history.

There have been many questions asked of the English football team over the last few decades, and rightly so, because we have not actually came close to winning any international trophy. Will we fair better this summer, with perhaps the lowest expectations heading into a tournament?

Theo Walcott has already been ruled out with an injury he sustained against Tottenham, and the players may soon be added to the injury list over the coming months. With teams like Uruguay, Costa Rica and Italy in the qualifying group we are certainly not favourites by any means.

That said,. We do have a chance, and if any country can keep Suarez quiet its England. That’s because we’ve seen him play and Jagielka and Cahill have experience against him. We’ve made it to the World Cup so we have as good a chance as any, but we need to see a lot more confidence going forward than we’ve seen compared to previous years.

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