Inside Hearts Spanish HQ as ingenious Robbie Neilson provides welcome relief to stars amid sapping session

The hard work has started for Hearts in the Spanish sun.

The stag and hen dos flying into Malaga on Friday will be weary by the end of their trip as well, but for entirely different reasons. Robbie Neilson ’s squad may be based at a picturesque golf resort, but there’s a fair way to go before they can think about getting in a round or two in. A lighter session after arriving from Edinburgh will be followed by doubles for most of the week. Record Sport ’s schedule is less physically demanding, thankfully, after a late touchdown before a train journey to Fuengirola last night.

And it was an early start to make the short journey from there to training. It may be the cooler part of the day, but temperatures in the mid-20s are no joke for Neilson’s charges. It’s almost a full complement, with only new signing Kye Rowles and Nathaniel Atkinson not with the squad, the pair enjoying some well deserved time off after their World Cup heroics with Australia.

There are a couple of new faces here however, as Alan Forrest and Lewis Neilson start the bedding in and bonding process with their new teammates.

The nature of pre-season has changed dramatically even in the last decade or so.

Jim Jefferies’ brutal sessions in the Tuscan mountains were legendary, with players building their fitness with gruelling coffin runs at altitude.

A few lunches were seen again for some as they were pushed to their limit with hard running in the heat.

Nowadays, it’s all short, sharp, high intensity drills. Gone are the days when a ball wouldn’t be seen for weeks, and every metric is monitored to ensure workloads remain sensible and needless injuries are avoided.

Even psychologically, knowing that’s the plan rather than Gullane Beach’s ‘murder