Head of medical Richard Collinge discusses Hornets' 'big brother' philosophy

From cookery lessons to taking new signings to the supermarket to monitoring players’ sleep patterns, hydration and nutrition. No stone is left unturned.

“Everything is done to create, as we call it, a 24/7 athlete,” Collinge said last month. “We want to know what the players are doing twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week.

“We want to know what their sleep patterns are like and what they are eating. If there are any social problems outside of the club then we need to know that. It is the big brother philosophy we have put in place.”

And it is a process which begins on the first day of pre-season. Every player is screened “from top to toe” according to Collinge in order to ascertain what the medical staff can do to help a player avoid injury.

“It is about detecting a small problem that could then lead to a big injury,” Collinge explained. “And during the season we have a traffic light system.

“There is the red flag group. They are the players who have played a lot of games and have trained particularly hard. We need to make sure we focus on that group.

“Then there is the amber group who will have issues that need addressing but they are not as high risk.

“Then there is the green group. They are the guys who are training well and recovering well and are giving us the thumbs up.

“Players in that group are probably not playing as much though. That may mean they need extra work. So we can’t treat everyone the same. Every player has different demands.” While Watford ensure the players receive all the help they need to perform on the pitch, the club also work hard to help new arrivals settle off it.

Since the Pozzos’ takeover in 2012, a large number of foreign players have joined the club. The likes of Juan Carlos Paredes and Miguel Layun have moved over from Ecuador and Mexico respectively and Collinge appriciates life in England can be a culture shock.

He said: “We have to make sure all the foreign players settle into life in Hertfordshire as quickly as possible.

“So how can we make that happen? Well if it is their first move away from home we can offer them cookery lessons and we can take them to the supermarket so they are buying the right products.

“It is all about integrating that player into the club and the community.”

When Collinge rejoined the Hornets in February he knew the club was significantly different to the Watford he had left in 2011.

Gone were the days of boardroom squabbles and worries over the Golden Boys’ future. That had been replaced by an ambitious foreign owner who wants his club in the Premier League.

Vicarage Road has been improved, as has the club’s London Colney training ground. But, most importantly, expectations at Watford have changed.

A mid-table finish in the Championship is no longer seen as an acceptable campaign for the Hornets.

“Things have changed an awful lot in the time I was away,” Collinge explained.

“But there were a lot of familiar faces still here when I returned. There have been lots of important improvements made but the ethos of injury prevention that was put in place during my first spell here still remains. So there is that familiarity.”

Collinge originally joined Watford in 2002 as an Academy physio. It was a role he held for three years before a promotion to first-team physio in 2005 and then four years later he became head of medical.

He worked under Ray Lewington, Aidy Boothroyd, Brendan Rodgers and Malky Mackay before following Mackay to Cardiff City in 2011.

A two-and-a-half year spell in south Wales was followed by eight months at Wigan Athletic. But when Collinge had the chance to return to Watford – and his home in Barnet – he had no hesitation.

“I had wonderful times here in my previous tenure and when the job was advertised it was a no-brainer to go for it,” he said.

“I like to think I bring more experience back with me after being promoted to the Premier League with Cardiff.

“Likewise I picked up some tips at Wigan because every club runs things differently. So it is good to bring snippets of information from those clubs to Watford because I have learnt along the way.”

Collinge’s role as head of medical is one of the most important at the club. His usual day starts at 7.45am when he arrives at London Colney to prepare for the players’ arrival.

He then discusses with his medical team who is fit to train and who needs treatment before relaying that information to the Hornets’ management team.

The players are then prepared for training through a series of warm-up exercises and massages before Collinge works with the members of the squad who are injured. Training is followed by lunch in the canteen, something Collinge described as “refuelling the players”, before an additional afternoon session of yoga, pilates or exercises in the swimming pool at nearby Sopwell House is held.

“Gone are the days that the players are only in for two hours a day,” Collinge said. “Now they have to arrive at nine o’clock in the morning and they are here until three or four o’clock in the afternoon.

“We also have appointments we take the players to away from the training ground. We want to offer as wide a service as we can. Physically and mentally we want the players in the best condition.

“We have had to educate the players over the years to understand that and the demands of the game have increased as well.

“Our challenge as a medical team is to keep injury rates as low as possible, although you will always have something like a Joel Ekstrand-type injury (the defender damaged his cruciate knee ligament during a match) that you can’t account for.”

Ekstand is unlikely to play again this year. He has undergone knee surgery and has started rehabilitation work at the club’s training ground.

It is a long road to recovery but, fortunately, Collinge says that is where the greatest advancements have been made in recent years. The Hornets have embraced that belief.

The Golden Boys fly to away fixtures, stay in hotels the night before home games and use a cryotherapy chamber to speed up their recovery the day after matches.

“As soon as the players come off the pitch their recovery starts,” Collinge explained.

“If you look at Welsh rugby they would take a portable cryotherapy unit with them to away matches and they would go from the dressing room straight into the chamber after matches.

“That is something we need to strive towards to ensure the recovery starts immediately after the game.

“It is still sensible here though. If a piece of machinery is too expensive we will be knocked back. Ultimately the infrastructure has improved here and that is down to the investment from Mr Pozzo,” he added.