View From The Field: Murray’s Matters (Joelle Murray column)

Hibernian’s captain reports a pre-season she never expected to enjoy. Training resumed under guidelines that at first forbade contact and groups larger than five, and the squad took the new normal in its stride simply because it was football again. Periodisation had to be careful: lockdown had kept players active but could not replicate football-specific movement, and niggling calf, foot and groin injuries – all lower-limb and non-contact – duly arrived. After a ten-day pause caused by cases in the Scottish men’s game, full contact returned. She has spoken to Scott Booth about Glasgow City carrying similar problems into their Champions League tie with Wolfsburg. On the WSL’s summer signings she is generous, calling it arguably the best league in the world, with a caveat about homegrown opportunities and a joke about the SWPL.