"Neil Warnock is brutal; real old-school. He used to set-up a 440m track and whenever he wanted he would shout: ‘On the line!’ and those three words still give me nightmares now.
"You’d make your way to the line and he’d say: ‘Go’ and you’d be looking to make your way to the end in roughly 65-70 seconds; it’s a good pace but not too tiring. Neil could have you doing it again one-minute later or midway through a seven-v-seven game - he’d call it, and all of a sudden ‘not too tiring’ became ‘absolutely knackering’!
"One day we came in and the gaffer wasn’t there which we were pleased about. But then we’ve looked out onto the pitches and the track was set-up.
"Keith Curle was the No.2 at the time and he said to us: ‘We are going to do one run; if you all finish in under one-minute you can go home. Don’t tell the gaffer, though.’
"I’ve never run so quick in my life – even Julián Speroni came in at 55 seconds. I’ve no idea if the gaffer knows now or whether Keith had something to do that clashed with training, so his clock was always going to end under one-minute."
To read the rest of iconic No.7's column for Southampton then be sure to secure your season-long programme subscription. There are three options for fans below:
Mail-order matchday programme subscription (League and cup)
With the season-long mail-order matchday programme subscription, home league and cup programmes will land through your door for just £85, which includes postage, making a saving of over 10% if bought individually from the online Club Shop.
The mail-out deadline for Southampton has passed, however, if you decide after Saturday's game against the Saints - or even in several games' time - that you fancy getting involved with the season-long programme subscription, then you can and any missed matchday programmes will be posted out to you by clicking here.
Digital Matchday Programme (League only)
You will receive a link to view the Palace programme in PDF format 24 hours before each of the 19 home league matches which is easily viewable on mobile, desktop, laptop and tablet.
Also included in your subscription is the Tottenham Hotspur programme from the final game of the 2019/20 season - which includes extended interviews with Roy Hodgson and 2004 play-off hero, Nico Vaesen.
The digital subscription offer is only available if purchased before kick-off of our Premier League opener against Southampton on 12th September (15:00 BST), after which the digital matchday programmes will only be available on a match-by-match basis, priced at £1.99 per issue.
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Purchase one of the new look '20/21 Memberships (League only)
Gold, Junior Gold and International Members receive access to all 19 home Premier League digital matchday programmes as part of their Memberships.
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