Kenny 'knocked out' by LFC changes

If I've appreciated anything in the past fortnight at Liverpool, it is the unbelievable facilities at the club's Melwood training ground, writes Kenny Dalglish in his Mailonline column.

It is dominated by a state-of-the-art pavilion, complete with video-editing suites, a sport science department and fantastic medical facilities.

I remember what used to be there; a supposed all-weather gravel pitch. They called it all-weather because we could use it when it snowed. In actual fact, the only time you could play on it was when it was covered by four inches of snow. The rest of the time, it was too hard.

Nowadays, the club has everything it needs, which is how it should be. When you consider the huge investment in players, it is only right to have the best facilities possible to get the best out of them.

It was Graeme Souness (manager) and Peter Robinson (club secretary) who moved everything over to Melwood. Before then, all the players used to travel to Anfield, leave our cars and get taken by bus to training.

It was a fantastic atmosphere, with a fair amount of banter, as you can imagine with the likes of Ronnie Whelan and Alan Hansen around. After training, we'd all pile back on the bus and eat back at Anfield - a three-course lunch usually polished off with apple pie and custard.

Another thing that has changed in this pasta-conscious age! That was then, and this is now. Of course, certain things will have changed from the time I played for Liverpool and later managed them, but I have been knocked out with what I've had to work with.

You can video-edit matches to look at tactical issues in detail. The sport science department gives you instant results on how players have trained, down to which blood counts are up or down. It's informative stuff and helpful in preparing players for matches.

The medical facilities are fantastic. The quicker you can diagnose a player's injury, the better chance you have of getting him out on the pitch.

Nothing is spared. The training pitches have undersoil heating so there is no need to play on the gravel!

Melwood is still recognisable of course, just not as we knew it. There used to be an old pavilion with a couple of small dressing rooms for the A and B teams, showers and a basic gym. There wasn't a canteen that you'd recognise, just room to boil a kettle and make a cup of tea.

The amount of people who work at the club is enormous compared with what it was, but it is not a sports science department working in isolation from the scouting department working separately from the coaches. Everyone has to work together.

The number of players in the firstteam squad is larger as well and, without those bus rides from Anfield to Melwood, team spirit has to be created in a different way. The players eat lunch together after training.

The food was excellent 20 years ago, but I'm sure it's better now for professional athletes, with the menus dictated by sports science. The idea in 1990 was to give the players a three-course meal for lunch. Soup maybe for starters, a main course of steak, chicken or Scouse, and then a dessert: apple pie and custard I remember with particular fondness. One of the reasons not to spare the portions was to ensure the single lads in the squad would be guaranteed at least one hearty meal a day.

The menu now is fish, chicken, steak, pasta, salads; food to give you energy. I'm sure if you asked quietly for apple pie and custard, the canteen might try to sort it out, but I don't think the sports scientists would like it.

The only downside is it is murder for the staff, like me, because you have to eat healthily as well. You don't want to set a bad example!

To be serious, though, I have always embraced progress. For me, the important thing is to interpret and use science and technology in the right way - to get the club results on the pitch. That's what all of us are employed for.

I've been through a lot of the progress in sports science. But as I said, even though it is all well and good having the information, the important thing is how you interpret it. A wealth of statistics without the nous of how to use them is not much good to anyone. We are all focused on one thing - getting results on the pitch.

Source: Daily Mail

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