Copenhagen - The First Step

Big week and little time to think about the main event. A dead legged picked up last weekend has limited me to one gym session. The rest of my time has been spent either at my desk or in my bed.

I’m hoping both will play into my favour. A week off training probably won’t do any harm and work is keeping me distracted.

Saturday is massive, one of the three biggest days of the football year.

There was a time mid-summer when I was very down about the whole thing. I’d never seen numbers drop so consistently low and I wasn’t sure we could pull it together.

However, since lads returned from the summer break, the whole thing has been building and we head into the weekend feeling like we have prepared as well as possible.

There are 29 lads travelling to Copenhagen, an incredible number considering the expensive destination. Ross and Mull are injured so will look after the line and the other 27.

You could joke that the draw for the Championship is like a group of death. We’re in with Scandanavian champs Stockholm, Benelux winners Amsterdam and The Hague, Euro Champs in 2009 and 2010. However, looking at the other side of the draw you see current Euro champs Guernsey, along with Jersey, who topped them in the regionals. Lux fill the final slot and they are a team I’d expect to have a big say.

Considering all that, I think it’s going to be a very competitive day. There’s no point in talking ourselves up or down. I’ve no idea where we are at against the rest but definitely feel like we are starting fresh after a disappointing regional series.

All I can say about us is that we have a balanced panel which is very tight as a group. Last year we played to our potential on each occasion. All we can expect this year is to do that again and see where it takes us. You can beat your chest as much as you want but that’s the bottom line.

The Shield team is in a group with Paris/Lyon and Gothenburg. It’s impossible to call the quality there. We are the only club with a second team entered and there isn’t a ringer amongst them. Unless you count Pearce! I think he avoids training so I don’t pick him!

The challenge being a club’s second team is significant. Regardless of the opposition, you know they will always have a handful of very experienced players and our guys can’t match that. Again though, the lads share the strengths of the Championship team; balance and togetherness.

There was a time I’d give the ra ra speech. A lot of guys actually like that. However, my thinking has changed and a more calm and focussed approach is my preferred starting point. You can’t maintain the gusto throughout a tournament and manage the breaks that come with it.

Saturday is the first of three big days. Nerves, excitement, curiosity. They are the three main emotions experienced in the build up. Hopefully it will be elation in the aftermath.