BY DARREN JOHNSTONE @CCP_Sport
Danny Swanson insists being subjected to an ‘army camp’ at Hearts is a walk in the park compared to earning a living as a plumber.
The former Dundee United and Peterborough forward is gradually getting used to the demands placed on the squad on the training ground after joining from Coventry City in September.
However, the 28-year-old insists you will not find him complaining about their workload after plying his trade outside of football before being handed his big break at Tannadice in 2008.
He said: “I’m enjoying it, I still feel like I’m playing catch up to be honest but if I’m going to get fit it’s definitely going to be here because it’s like an army camp.
“I mean that in a good way, it’s not just running but it’s hard work.
“We do treble sessions twice a week, which is something I’m new to, but the boys told me what to expect when I got here.
“After the morning session you go to the gym and then you train again. I’ve never done that before, training after the gym, but I’m getting used to it now.
“The first few times I couldn’t feel my legs in the afternoon. I really couldn’t. I remember after the first one I did I was hobbling about but now I’m handling it a lot better and enjoying it.
“At Peterborough, because the gym was so far away, not many of the boys would go so we’d just head home and that would be it.
“We’d spend time with our families, or play the X-Box and generally get bored.”
Having to put in the hours in the gym and on the training pitch, however, is not a chore to Swanson.
Speaking ahead of today’s visit of Hamilton, he added: “It’s hard work but I’ve done 9-5 jobs before and it’s nothing like that, I can tell you.
“I enjoy coming in every morning to play football, what can you complain about?
“I was a plumber before football and it was more like 7am to 6pm. It was brutal, I hated it.
“So these hard sessions are nothing compared to that. You’ve still got these boys like Calum Paterson who have never worked a day in their lives and don’t have a clue how lucky they are.
“I think it makes me appreciate my life as a footballer a lot more. I played with (Crystal Palace striker) Dwight Gayle, he worked outside football and look at him now.
“We don’t want to go back to that in a hurry so you work hard to make a go of your career.”
