- Modern Premier League clubs travel first-class with large non-playing staff contingents, a world away from the shared guest houses and beach training sessions of earlier decades.
- A pervasive drinking culture defined football bonding in the 1970s and 80s — even at elite clubs like Liverpool, Manchester United, and Arsenal — but managers today must find alternative ways to build squad unity.
- Mobile phones are identified as the single biggest modern obstacle to genuine dressing-room camaraderie, with players retreating into their devices rather than engaging with teammates.
From Blackpool Guest Houses to Five-Star Hotels: How Pre-Season Has Been Transformed
The contrast between modern Premier League pre-season preparation and the methods used in English football’s earlier eras could scarcely be more stark. Today, top-flight clubs spare no expense when taking squads away, whether for a pre-season tour or a mid-campaign winter break. Players travel in first-class comfort, stay in premium hotels with outstanding facilities and cuisine, and are supported by an ever-expanding entourage of non-playing staff — physiotherapists, analysts, nutritionists, and more — who follow in a separate bus of their own.
It was a very different picture just a few decades ago. Pre-season for many English professionals meant a trip to Blackpool — three days of hard graft on the sands, sleeping in cramped guest houses with three-quarter beds shared between players. “That certainly brought us closer together!” the recollection goes. Morning sessions were running drills on the beach, while afternoons were spent playing seven-a-side games on local park pitches — though not before the players cleared the ground themselves. Evenings offered a degree of freedom, with players permitted out for a few beers and no formal curfew enforced beyond the requirement to be downstairs and ready to return to the beach by 8am the following morning.
The Drinking Culture That Bonded a Generation — and Why It Has Disappeared
That permissive attitude toward alcohol was no anomaly — it was the norm throughout the English game during the 1970s and 80s. A “massive drinking culture” ran right through the divisions, and even the most decorated clubs in the country were not exempt. Liverpool, Manchester United, and Arsenal — clubs that dominated not only English football but the European game during that era — produced legendary tales of players socialising heavily while simultaneously competing at the highest level. Bonding, in the truest sense of the word, happened organically and consistently: in pubs after Saturday games, after midweek training sessions, and on end-of-season trips to Spain where alcohol consumption was very much the centrepiece rather than any structured programme.
What that culture produced, for all its obvious risks, was a group of players deeply embedded in ordinary life and society rather than insulated within a professional bubble. Players at the top level were, in many ways, far more connected to their communities and to each other than their modern counterparts. Winter breaks were rare events rather than scheduled fixtures in the football calendar, and the concept of a structured overseas training camp was largely foreign to British footballers of that generation.
Managing the Modern Player: Phones, Distractions, and the Search for Togetherness
For managers operating in today’s game, building genuine squad cohesion requires a fundamentally different approach. Players are now well educated on the dangers of excessive drinking, which removes the informal social infrastructure that once drew dressing rooms together so naturally. In its place, managers must construct deliberate team-building environments — a harder task when a host of competing distractions pull players in different directions.
Chief among those distractions is the mobile phone, described as something an entire generation of players is grateful not to have grown up with. Walking into a hotel dining room or a training ground canteen to find a table of players each absorbed in their own screen rather than talking to one another was a source of real frustration during management. “I used to go mad if I walked into a dining room at the training ground or a hotel to see a group of lads looking at their phone and not engaging with each other,” comes the frank admission. The irony is that today’s players enjoy material advantages — superior facilities, nutrition, medical care, and financial reward — that earlier generations could not have imagined, yet something fundamental in human connection has been lost in the process.
Why This Matters
The debate over team spirit and dressing-room culture is far from merely nostalgic. Managers and analysts across elite football increasingly recognise that squad cohesion has a measurable impact on performance, particularly during the pressure of a long and congested season. The Premier League’s adoption of a formal winter break was partly motivated by a desire to replicate the bonding benefits that European leagues had long built into their calendars. Yet the challenge of fostering genuine human connection in an era of social media, digital distraction, and increasingly professionalised environments remains one of the most complex man-management tasks in the modern game. The stories from the terraced guest houses of Blackpool serve as a reminder that togetherness has never required luxury — only proximity, shared experience, and, occasionally, a shovel to clear a park pitch.
Frequently Asked Questions
How did Premier League pre-season training differ in the 1970s and 80s compared to today?
Decades ago, pre-season for many English clubs involved modest trips to domestic locations such as Blackpool, where players shared cramped accommodation, trained on beaches, and played informal seven-a-side games on public park pitches. Today, Premier League clubs invest heavily in overseas training camps, first-class travel, premium hotels, and large support staffs to give players the best possible preparation environment.
Why was the drinking culture of 1970s and 80s football so widespread, even at top clubs?
Social drinking was the primary informal bonding mechanism across English football during that era, deeply embedded at every level of the game. Even elite clubs — Liverpool, Manchester United, and Arsenal — were associated with significant drinking cultures among players who simultaneously achieved sustained success domestically and in Europe. It reflected a broader integration of footballers into everyday society rather than the isolated, highly regulated lifestyle of today’s top professionals.
What is identified as the biggest modern obstacle to dressing-room camaraderie?
Mobile phones are singled out as the single greatest barrier to genuine player interaction and team bonding in the current era. Rather than engaging with teammates during meals or downtime, players frequently retreat into their devices — a habit that managers have found deeply counterproductive to building the kind of personal relationships that underpin strong squad unity.
