This article originally appeared on David Hunts Blog - Life of Another League.
Hey all,
I'm sorry I haven't written anything for a while, the reason being the season has finished and I thought I'd take a few weeks off with the family. So I guess you've been wondering what I've been up to??? Apart from spending more time with my family, I have been busy keeping myself fit and enjoying some day trips away.
Even though my season has finished, there's been plenty of football to watch on the screen. We have seen Blackpool get promoted to the Premiership, an unbelievable achievement for Ian Holloway and his team. I thought they deserved the win and it's refreshing to see such an attacking passing team get their just rewards. Who would of thought that next season Man United, Arsenal, Liverpool will all be playing at Bloomfield Road, I'm sure the Blackpool fans will let the opposition know where they are!! On a personal note I'd like to wish my good friends Gary Taylor-Fletcher (played with at Leyton Orient) and Billy Clarke (Brentford loanee last season) congratulations, they are two great players and I hope they both get their chance at the highest level.
Congratulations also go to Oxford. James Constable was a teammate of mine at Shrewsbury, he wasn't given a fair crack at the whip there and I'm really happy for him to have led his team to League football again. Oxford is too big a club to be in the Conference and I'm sure there are good times ahead for them again.
Next week we have the League 1 and League 2 playoff finals. I'm hoping to go and watch Dagenham Redbridge take on Rotherham. My very close friend Will Antwi plays for the Daggers, we were together in Crystal Palace Youth team. Hopefully he'll get to do what I always have dreamt of, play on the hallowed turf of Wembley Stadium. Millwall also take on Swindon in the other final. These are two very strong teams that I feel deserve to be in the final. I predict Deggenham and Millwall to get promoted but finals are special occasions and anything can happen. I hope that next season the minimum achievement for Brentford and myself is a trip to Wembley and a chance to set the history books straight!
On TV we have also had the luck of watching the Champions League Final. Inter Milan completing the treble and it was all down to one man, Jose Mourinho. He is one of those people that will be remembered as a legend in football and I'm glad I'm alive to witness it as it happens. The man is a genius, some don't like his style of play but he is paid for one thing, to win trophies and that he can deliver. If he does move to Real Madrid and win the La Liga title, then he'll have come first in Spain, England, Italy and Portugal, I predict that his next move if this did happen would be to win the World Cup. Lets hope it's with England!!!
It's been just over two weeks since I finished for my six week break. I haven't been doing anything out of the ordinary, I'm trying to make sure I eat well and stay fit. I'm not going on holiday as we have a 4-week-old daughter that doesn't even have a passport yet. I know that many of my teammates are abroad right now and you might be able to catch a glimpse of them in either Dubai, America, Russia, Ibiza or some other hot country. I take a little bit of time off to rest but I like to keep myself ticking over, I find it too hard to leave a football alone and I'm definitely going cold turkey at the moment. We have been given a fitness programme to stick to along with heart rate monitors so that we can keep an eye on whether we are doing too much or too little work. The club has given us body fat targets and weights targets to come back to, this is to make sure the lads know that they can enjoy themselves but within reason. If we don't then I'm sure there'll be a big fine to pay.
Away from fitness I'm looking to try and have some fun weekends at places like Alton Towers, Center Parcs or a trip to the coast. I'm still a big kid at heart and I need to be kept entertained at all times. Every Thursday I coach Reading U12's Academy team and this is something that I really enjoy. The talent is much more advanced than when I was that age and this is only a good sign for the future of the English game. Coaching is something I'm very interested in doing in the future but who knows where the next road leads.
Apart from that it's feet up and count the days until I'm back in training for the dreaded pre-season.
I'm going to be back to normal, writing my blogs regularly over the holiday break. I think it's nice for you as readers to get a little insight as to what some footballers get up to in the off season. If you want a more up to date diary of my holidays you can follow me on twitter at http://twitter.com/DavidJHunt/. Not long now until the World Cup, I hope you're all enjoying the nice weather...
Hunty
Follow David Hunt on his twitter account - http://twitter.com/DavidJHunt
