BLOEMFONTEIN Celtic hope a change of pre-season routine will help them into the top four in the next season.
Phunya SeleSele finished fifth in the last campaign which, coupled with their Telkom Knockout success, made for an excellent campaign.
The goal now is to push on and become title contenders, and coach Clinton Larsen says they will be doing things a little differently in pre-season this year when they return on June 24.
"In the past three years we have gone to Gauteng to play there at altitude, and that was initially the plan again this year," Larsen told Sowetan.
"But we have had a rethink and decided to go down to Durban instead because we want to do a lot of endurance training, and the beach is perfect for that.
"The facilities are excellent, of course, and we will have some top-quality friendly games against AmaZulu, Maritzburg United, [Lamontville] Golden Arrows and Thanda [Royal Zulu].
"It is a change for us, and we believe it will be good for the players and allow us to be in top shape when the season starts."
Larsen also confirmed that star striker Lerato Manzini will be fit for the start of pre-season in a fortnight. Manzini suffered a broken bone in his foot that required surgery towards the end of the last campaign.
"The reports I have from the medical team say he will be able to start pre-season on the 24th," Larsen says.
"The foot has healed very nicely and he is almost fully recovered. That is obviously great news for us."
Celtic change training tactics
BLOEMFONTEIN Celtic hope a change of pre-season routine will help them into the top four in the next season.
Phunya SeleSele finished fifth in the last campaign which, coupled with their Telkom Knockout success, made for an excellent campaign.
The goal now is to push on and become title contenders, and coach Clinton Larsen says they will be doing things a little differently in pre-season this year when they return on June 24.
"In the past three years we have gone to Gauteng to play there at altitude, and that was initially the plan again this year," Larsen told Sowetan.
"But we have had a rethink and decided to go down to Durban instead because we want to do a lot of endurance training, and the beach is perfect for that.
"The facilities are excellent, of course, and we will have some top-quality friendly games against AmaZulu, Maritzburg United, [Lamontville] Golden Arrows and Thanda [Royal Zulu].
"It is a change for us, and we believe it will be good for the players and allow us to be in top shape when the season starts."
Larsen also confirmed that star striker Lerato Manzini will be fit for the start of pre-season in a fortnight. Manzini suffered a broken bone in his foot that required surgery towards the end of the last campaign.
"The reports I have from the medical team say he will be able to start pre-season on the 24th," Larsen says.
"The foot has healed very nicely and he is almost fully recovered. That is obviously great news for us."
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