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19/07/2008 - Notts County: Pre-season latest

Ian McParland is sitting in the corner of the dining-room with a cup of tea.

All of his players have left to prepare for a final training session, having cleared their plates and glasses to avoid a club fine.

Well, all except two anyway.

Waitresses are dealing with the few remaining bits of debris from the breakfast tables, disturbing the quiet only slightly.

McParland knows this is the calm before the storm of a League Two campaign. In fact, the whole week training at the foot of the imposing Dachstein mountains has been precisely that.

And he believes it has provided the players with the perfect stage to prepare for the greater challenges that inevitably lie ahead during the new campaign.

He said: "It has been first-class. The pitches have been first-class, the food has been first-class, and the two games we played were perfect for this stage of the build-up.

"I have been away with a few clubs in the past and if you get the right venue and the right facilities, it is fantastic. We have certainly got it right coming here."

McParland is pleased his side won both their friendlies, against Olympia Ljubljana and emphatically so against Wacker Burghausen. Of course, he is. Winning, even in pre-season where fitness is of paramount importance, is still significant. It breeds confidence.

But he is even more pleased with the attitude of his players, since they boarded the team bus at Meadow Lane seven days ago. Like the facilities at the National Sports Centre at Obertraun, they have been first-class in his eyes.

They have worked hard in training, as McParland tries to impress upon them his vision of how he wants them to play next season - and beyond. Equally, they have happily taken the plunge into the icy water of the River Traun, well, maybe not happily, and they have cleared their plates after meals.

In short, they have been complete professionals.

"The biggest positive for me has been the attitude of the boys and how they have applied themselves in the training and how they have conducted themselves since we left Meadow Lane," he said.

"They have been putting the hours in on the training ground and have worked hard.

"I didn't expect anything else. They have been absolutely tremendous."

McParland has been particularly impressed by new-signings Matt Hamshaw, who scored on his debut and was the chief creator of goals during both friendlies, and Jamie Forrester, who got off the mark with the Magpies with a first-half double against Wacker. Winger Myles Weston has also caught his eye.

He believes the entire squad is making good progress towards being in peak form and fitness when it matters most, against Bradford City at Valley Parade in three weeks' time.

And he insists there will be no let-up in his punishing pre-season training programme when the squad returns to Meadow Lane next week, ahead of three more friendlies against non-league Hucknall Town, Premier League new-boys Stoke City and local rivals Nottingham Forest.

"Matty has done well, and Myles Weston has done very well. In general, they have all done well," he added.

"Jamie Forrester has got his couple of goals, and you can see why he has scored goals throughout his career. Everything is going well. We are plodding along nicely. The second game (against Wacker) was a step-up from the first. They were a bit livelier and gave us a real good workout.

"We will be working hard again next week, with double sessions, and then we have got a game against Hucknall Town, and then we play Stoke and Nottingham Forest.

"We are going along nicely but we have still got a lot of hard work to do. This week has just been part of it."