Busy summer for Crues in prep for move away from part-time status
Extended training sessions and sport science included in strategy
Irish League stars may be already on their summer break, but for the Danske Bank Premierhsip champions, the close season will be a busy one.
Crusaders recently signalled their intentions to move towards a three-quarter professional model – as part of their new five-year club strategy.
This will involve extended training sessions and increased use of sport scientists and dieticians.
Crues boss, Stephen Baxter said it was the only way to help the league develop even further.
In an interview with Downtown & Cool FM, Baxter said: “Irish league football has now got to this stage where it is starting to jump away from the part-time status – we’ve trained for a hundred years on a Tuesday and Thursday night and we get an hour and 15 minutes with the players around what we are trying to do.
“We are not going to be a club in England in the first or second divisions who are full time – we do not have lots of money but what we do have are thoughts that will not cost a lot and where we can get the best out of everybody.”
Meanwhile, the top flight new boys, Newry City have been keeping an eye on things at Seaview.
We caught up with ambitious young boss Darren Mullen who is a big fan of the move to a more full-time model and said he had been inspired by what Crusaders had done.
“I think it is terrific for Crusaders – terrific for Irish league football,” he said.
“I actually went down and visited Crusaders a couple of months back to see how they function as a club – they were very welcoming.
“They were probably in a similar situation to ourselves maybe 10 years ago and look how far they have come on.”