As training begins, Hibs boss warns players of tough month

Although the first leg of the Edinburgh club's Europa League tie is exactly four weeks away, Hughes has his sights set on making the group stages of that competition.

However, to do that Hibs won't just have to negotiate their way through a two-legged affair to be played on 29 July and 5 August, but also a subsequent round.

To that end, Hughes has devised a gruelling schedule of pre-season matches, two closed-doors games preceding his side's first public outing at Dunfermline a week on Saturday.

He said: "We have a month to prepare and we have a really heavy programme. However, we can't get them fit in a day, it will be a case of building up as we go along."

While the training schedule drawn up by Hughes, his assistant Brian Rice and their coaching staff will, obviously, be aimed at driving each player towards peak fitness, the manager revealed the accent will very much be on working with the ball.

He said: "The balls will be out straight away but there's also a place for 'character' runs now and again to test them and I've already been up Arthur's Seat doing a wee recce."

Each of Hughes' players was given a personal fitness programme to follow during their six-week break and he insisted there will be no sympathy for those who may have let things slip.

He said: "We need to hit the ground running so, hopefully, they'll all be in shape. We'll be able to tell instantly those who have followed the programme they were given and if there are any who haven't then they could find themselves with extra sessions to catch up."

Hughes also revealed the image of players simply slogging their way around the perimeter of the club's East Mains Training Centre was far outdated, with a more scientific approach being applied nowadays.

He said: "They'll have heart monitors to let us see the distance covered and how hard they are working. We'll also be looking to injury prevention so there's a lot of stretching, massages and the like along with diet and nutrition.

"We've got a very hard month ahead, all geared towards being ready not just for Europe but the start of the new SPL season."