Weather leaves Sunderland out in the cold
Dec 2 2010 by Luke Edwards, The Journal
SUNDERLAND’S preparations for this weekend’s clash with West Ham have been badly disrupted by the weather because the training ground does not have an indoor pitch.
The Black Cats’ squad were supposed to train on Tuesday, but had the session cancelled because of the snow and they may only be able to hold a full training session once more before the arrival of the Hammers.
Steve Bruce took the first-team squad to train at the Stadium of Light yesterday as it has undersoil heating, but that can only be done in an emergency because of the damage it does to the playing surface.
To make matters worse, the weather is not showing any sign of improvement and assistant manager Eric Black has been unable to help out as he is stuck in Derbyshire and cannot make the journey back to the North East because of the adverse conditions.
The club have received planning permission for an indoor pitch and will hope to start the building work as soon as possible, but that is of little comfort during this Arctic spell.
Players and coaching staff are trying to make the best of a difficult situation, although Kieran Richardson admitted the weather is an unwanted complication in the build up to Sunday’s match.
He said: “We would like to train every day. We need to keep sharp, fit, that’s what we know we have to do as professionals.
“When we are not training it is a nightmare. We trained at the stadium on Wednesday and that’s not ideal. We need to train as much as possible.
