Still a relative newcomer to the first team setup, Ryan Bertrand is a veteran of a Jose Mourinho-led Chelsea pre-season tour back in 2006.
Then, Bertrand was a mere 16-year-old making his first trip with the senior squad having completed his first campaign in the Academy, and would spend part of the next season on loan with Bournemouth.
Since then, a series of loan spells followed before the left-back returned to Chelsea for the second part of the 2010/11 season, and he has since made more than 50 appearances for us. He is hoping to be a regular again this season, and despite now feeling at home within the senior setup, he still recalls that first experience.
‘I do remember quite a lot about it actually, even though it was seven years ago, it was the first time I was involved in the first team, and like everyone else I had to get up and sing in front of the lads, but it was great to be involved,’ recalled the England international.
‘In many ways it was very similar then to what it is now under Jose, there is the same intensity in training and the same attention to detail. When a manager and his coaches are that well organised, with the attention to detail, it makes it easy as a player to work hard and get your fitness. The organisation is perfect.’
Looking ahead, we play our final Asia tour game of 2013 in Jakarta this evening before briefly returning home and then travelling on to America, where pre-season steps up a notch with the return of several players from their holidays, and more familiar opposition to contend with.
‘We want to win again on Thursday, it’s our last tour game and we still need to get the fitness going but keep the winning run going as long as we can as well,’ Bertrand said. ‘It’s important we show the fans here what we can do, and we want to repay the support they’ve given us all across Asia.
‘Then we go home for a few days, and in America things get a bit more serious with other players coming back and we’ll be playing against more well-known opposition too. We’ll still be building fitness and working on things so we won’t look too much into it, but it that trip will be another good test for the lads.’