‘I’m really angry about that,’ Preston boss Paul Heckingbottom fumed.
The season was less than a week old but Heckingbottom’s patience was already wearing thin. This wasn’t about a dodgy refereeing call or the sale of a key player though, but an increasingly contentious issue in football that one source described as a ‘minefield’: the rise of private trainers working with footballers.
Heckingbottom’s grievances arose because Daniel Jebbison, a new loan signing from Bournemouth, missed their opening game of the season with an ankle injury he picked up in a private fitness session.
The incident, it must be noted, was a freak one and Jebbison has already returned to action, but Heckingbottom took the unprecedented step of banning his players from working with private trainers before he called out the coach in question Tom King, owner of King Performance Ideology (KPI).
KPI is a specialist sports performance service that counts the likes of Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Caoimhin Kelleher among its burgeoning client base.
Like many similar private companies or individuals, they provide technical, fitness and strength and conditioning coaching and advice to athletes.
Preston boss Paul Heckingbottom took the unprecedented step of banning his players from using private trainers earlier this summer
It came after on-loan striker Daniel Jebbison picked up an ankle injury during a private session
KPI refuse to work with any player who doesn’t allow open communication with relevant club staff and they had been in touch with people at Preston on a weekly basis. KPI insisted Jebbison’s injury was the first they had faced during a session.
Nevertheless, Heckingbottom continued: ‘These guys work with these players and they post their work all over social media and they want to promote their business. They’re happy to take the money, but they don’t give us any money back when they injure the players in their sessions.
‘They’ll not be posting on social media that Jebbo is out for a month, so I’ll tell everyone that when they work with players they can put them out as well.’
‘I can understand the frustrations completely,’ King, who worked for Liverpool for five years before setting up KPI, exclusively tells Daily Mail Sport just under a month after Heckingbottom’s comments.
‘I understand how fingers can be pointed and how people are upset, but when things are done properly as we always do, it’s a little naive to sometimes point those fingers or say things that have been said.’
The issue is not going away though, and during the off season, it is hard to go on social media without seeing stars hard at work in a sun-soaked location.
One agent Daily Mail Sport spoke with remarked how places like Dubai, Marbella or Vilamoura in Portugal are full of professional footballers doing just that across the summer.
Some agencies set up these camps for their clients and the agent estimated around 90 per cent of stars do some form of private work in pre-season, although he believes this is symptomatic of the changing landscape of football.
The topic of players working with private trainers is becoming increasingly contentious
The majority of top players work with them, but this is also filtering down the pyramid
‘Back in the day everyone would come back on July 1 unfit,’ the agent says. ‘It was accepted you have your summer break and then when you’re back, that’s when you get fit.
‘But the culture has changed. Football is getting more competitive and there’s a lot more money in it. Players have to be as fit as they can be from day one.’
There are several concerns though with the use of private trainers, who many also work with during the season, not least the risk of injury – and Heckingbottom’s views have been echoed by many managers.
‘There is a time and a place for them,’ says one Head of Performance at an EFL club who also runs his own private injury rehabilitation and performance business. ‘The problem for us is it can be hard to control how much the players are doing when working with external coaches and whether they’re following our guidance.
‘There are some really good coaches who have worked at high levels of the game, but you also get some rogue trainers.
‘What they’re delivering isn’t in line with what we’re recommending or it’s not what we want players to be doing. That stuff can be more for building coaches’ social media profiles as supposed to what’s in the best interest of the player.
‘Some stuff we do doesn’t look the most exciting if you put it on social media, whereas you find when they go with an external coach, it can become a bit more elaborate to look better.’
King set up his company after feeling there was a lack of focus on optimising each individual at clubs, but he agrees those rogue trainers let the industry down.
Tom King, owner of King Performance Ideology, was called out by Heckingbottom but he is one of the most respected private coaches in the game after previously working for Liverpool
For King, transparency with clubs is key and he has had several success stories with clients such as former England and Liverpool star Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain
‘There’s certainly a fair amount of what people would call ‘cowboys’ that claim to be a certain level but aren’t qualified to complete the job,’ he adds. ‘There are also individuals that do things behind a club’s back and they spoil it for everyone.
‘They cause both parties to lose trust and then some clubs are reluctant to let their players do any of this stuff. They might have had a bad experience from someone in my field.’
Those bad experiences are evidenced by one example the Head of Performance gives when a player ruptured his hamstring while working with a sprint coach.
The club were forced to foot the bill for surgery and the time required for rehabilitation, while there have been instances of players doing extra work externally during their recovery from injuries and getting re-injured when returning to training, putting pressure and scrutiny on a club’s medical department.
‘It’s great having these people, but they’re not accountable when things go wrong,’ the figure says. ‘That’s why we have to make sure when players do go remotely we have an understanding and an input into that process, because if things go wrong it’s on us.’
Another figure involved in performance adds: ‘If it’s not managed correctly, it can cause massive problems.’
There is an acknowledgement on all sides that players aren’t doing extra work to be difficult, rather they’re focusing on being the best they can be and as King points out, they may not get the individual attention they require in a team environment.
In fact, another agent believes players should be applauded for what they’re trying to do and felt Heckingbottom’s comments were uncalled for.
Several clubs and managers have raised concern about the potential risk of injury though
Heckingbottom’s brutal comments were backed up by Bromley manager Andy Woodman
King believes if communication and collaboration take place, it is a process that brings many rewards for clubs and players as they get to focus on specific things to improve their game
‘We’re not talking about them going out partying,’ the agent says. ‘They’re investing in something to be as fit and as good as they can be. How can they be criticised?
‘For the manager to come out and say what he said is a bit s****y because it’s not like the player got arrested or p****d up and is in the papers for that.’
When asked, King, who works particularly closely with one Premier League club, is able to point to several success stories at KPI, not least former Burnley captain Josh Brownhill.
Brownhill enjoyed the best season of his career in 2024-25, scoring 18 goals, and the 29-year-old credits the extra work he did with KPI as a part of that.
A focus on collaboration and communication is something repeated in all conversations Daily Mail Sport had to ensure the process runs smoothly and it seems that is the way through this convoluted, and controversial, topic.
‘It’s massive,’ the EFL figure adds. ‘We’ve had players where on a rest day they do extra work with an external consultant. That’s their recovery day. Why are they increasing the risk of injury?
‘It’s about working in collaboration to get the best outcome for a player rather than working in opposition or not communicating.’
‘One of my main focuses is always being as transparent as possible,’ King adds. ‘There are examples of players that like to keep things private but for us that is completely ridiculous and puts the player at more risk.’
The feeling among all figures Daily Mail Sport spoke to is that players aren’t trying to be difficult, and that the industry is let down by some rogue or underqualified individuals
Former Burnley captain Josh Brownhill, one of King’s clients, enjoyed the best season of his career in 2024-25 and he credits a percentage of that to the extra work he was doing with KPI
The use of private trainers is an issue that is not going away anytime soon.
Crystal Palace boss Oliver Glasner is among the coaches to have highlighted the challenges it causes, while Bromley manager Andy Woodman responded to a viral clip of Heckingbottom’s comments by saying: ‘Maybe get professional S&C guys to do things properly rather than amateurs!’
But the EFL figure doesn’t believe a blanket ban like that introduced at Preston is the way to go, rather there should be a focus on embracing the trend and communication.
‘We want players to feel they take autonomy over their own training, fitness and rehab,’ he says. ‘The only way to get the best outcome is to be open and have communication.
‘Injuries, unfortunately, can still happen, and people are going to get blamed, but hopefully that minimises the risk.’
‘The key thing is communication,’ King concludes. ‘Each stakeholder needs to know exactly what their role is and stick to it.
‘I would never try and talk to a player about what he should be doing at a club or the way he’s being managed. And equally, good members of staff at the club understand if we spend a fair amount of time with athletes, we know quite a lot about them.’
Wrexham join the big boys
It was always going to be a big summer for Wrexham as they stepped up to the Championship following a historic three successive promotions.
Director Humphrey Ker insisted as such, claiming the Ryan Reynolds and Rob Mac-owned side would have to quadruple their wage bill. And they went on to splash the cash, signing 13 players in a spend of around £30million, and although some big names – most notably Paul Mullin – have departed, not much was recouped in sales.
This subsequently put Wrexham’s net spend higher than eight Premier League clubs and even European giants Barcelona, AC Milan and Borussia Dortmund, according to transfermarkt.
Wrexham’s transformation over recent years has been monumental but even by their standards this was a big few months. Club legend Ollie Palmer was a record arrival for £300,000 in January 2022 and that was the first time they had signed a player for a record fee since the late Joey Jones arrived from Liverpool in 1978.
They have broken their transfer record five times since then, three of which came this summer, and don’t be surprised to see those figures rise again in future windows.
Wrexham’s £10m signing of Ipswich’s Nathan Broadhead was part of a big summer for the club
Family feeling at Oldham
In a nice quirk of deadline day, Oldham, managed by Micky Mellon, signed Burnley striker Michael Mellon on a season-long loan.
Michael, who has had loan spells at Morecambe, Dundee, Stockport County and Bradford City, is Micky’s son and is set to link up with his dad for the first time.
‘Michael has always been a goalscorer,’ Micky said. ‘Yes he’s my son, but we’ve brought him in to help us win games of football and that’s the sole reason.’
