Jason McCarthy says the Barnsley players are ready for an 'intense' pre-season under new head coach Daniel Stendel who the right-back believes can lead the Reds back into the Championship.
Stendel met his squad for the first time on Monday and has been putting them through a strenuous series of physical tests in 30 degree heat this week. The 44-year-old German is known for his focus on fitness and McCarthy told the Chronicle: "We are doing even more fitness work than normal. We have had a few presentations about what we're going to do over the next few weeks and it looks like it's going to be very intense.
"His style is fitness-based which I pride myself on and so do the other boys. A lot of the boys are already in the mindset of being really fit and playing energetic football so it's good that someone is coming in who fits that and will take it even further. We have started off with some sprints and agility work and we're having our heights and weights taken, to see if any of the boys put any weight on during the summer. Then there's the horrible fitness tests.
"But it will keep a lot of the boys motivated. We're very open-minded, ready to embrace the manager's philosophy and give it a real go. Having a new gaffer is always exciting and he seems like he treats everyone on a level playing field which is what we all need."
Former Hannover manager Stendel arrives having never experienced English football before but McCarthy has been impressed. He said: "He's been really good so far. It seems like it's going to be a very attacking style of play which will suit us. We're a young squad, we want to play attacking and energetic football and it seems like he wants that too which is encouraging. I am sure the club is trying to follow the Jurgen Klopp, David Wagner model (the German managers of Liverpool and Huddersfield Town). It suits me, with full-backs attacking and being aggressive on the front foot."
Stendel is learning to speak English and is being helped by his coaches Andreas Winkler and Cristopher Stern who are fluent. Former Southampton youth player McCarthy said: "His English is OK. I think he can understand everything and he knows a lot of words. You could tell on the second day he was picking stuff up that he didn't know on the first day, and so on throughout the week. I was at Southampton when Poch (Argentinean Mauricio Pochettino) came in and he couldn't speak a word of English. But he had an interpreter and got his message across really clearly. Then within a few weeks he was fluent. It's not the be all and end all but I am sure he (Stendel) is working hard on it."
McCarthy is enjoying being back in first team training, having been made to train with the under 23s under Stendel's predecessor Jose Morais. The 22-year-old defender played just two minutes as a substitute in the Portuguese's 15-game spell which ended in relegation last month.
He said: "It was horrible. It was a treatment I had never experienced before in my career. I was away from the first team and I felt really isolated. I kept working hard and trying to improve. But a few minutes at right midfield was never going to show him what I could do. I still got behind the lads and went to every away game. It taught me patience and how to be resilient when someone is knocking you, and just to stay true to yourself and keep believing that hard work will get you through."
That time out of the team coincided with a painful spell for McCarthy's family in the south east. He said: "Not a lot of people know but I was having a really difficult time off the pitch. We had a couple of deaths in the family. When that sort of stuff was happening, I was five hours away from home and my family weren't in the best of ways. It was very difficult but we're all past that now. It's held me in good stead. I have come through it and it's made me stronger."
McCarthy is now focusing on a much better year, culminating in a return to the Championship. He said: "Promotion definitely has to be the aim. A lot of the players know the league well and have done really well in it. I have already done well in League One, so have Brad Potts and Kieffer Moore and some others, then there is someone like Adam Jackson who hasn't played in League One yet but has done really well in the Championship. We just need to keep hold of all those players and look to bounce straight back into the Championship. If we get it right, and we click, there's no reason we can't get promoted."
