Chelsea pre-season torture from 1983: Classic photos of stars running on sand dunes in gruelling training ordeal

CHELSEA head off on pre- tour to the Far East today… but it’s a far cry from their pre-season training in Wales as these photos from the 80s show.

Antonio Conte and his champions are heading to China and Singapore for friendlies against Arsenal, Bayern Munich and Inter Milan.

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But back in 1983 the Blues spent their session running up and down sand dunes under the watchful eye of the late John Neal, on the pre-season tour from Hell.

The former Wrexham and Middlesbrough manager used to take his charges up to Aberystwyth for a week of running up and down the sand dunes at the beach at nearby Ynyslas.

It was a famously gruelling torture for the likes of Kerry Dixon, Pat Nevin and Nigel Spackman, and something the players still recall with horror.

In his 2016 autobiography Up Front, former England striker Kerry Dixon remembered being signed from Reading and joining his new Chelsea teammates in West Wales.

He wrote: “Like an idiot, I charged into the first circuit around a sand dune while John Neal stood by, stopwatch in hand.

“As soon as I stopped running my legs began to wobble and seize up. I collapsed in an untidy heap in the sand.

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“After a too-short breather I had to pick up a baton and charge up a sand dune that slithered away under my feet.

“I somehow reached the summit, clawing at the sand, desperately fighting for some kind of hold.

“My head was spinning, my lungs were a bursting point and my legs were completely without feeling.

“I collapsed into a pathetic heap once more, fighting an overwhelming feeling of nausea.

“I honestly thought I was going to die. All of the lads were pointing at me and laughing hysterically.”

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JIM BENNETT

Instead, Conte’s men have it easy.

They have enjoyed some sessions at the club’s training HQ in Cobham, Surrey, for the past week.

Now they are to travel to China, where they play Arsenal at the Bird’s Nest Stadium in Beijing on July 22.

Then they jet to Singapore for games against Bayern Munich on July 25 and Inter Milan on July 29.

Not a sand dune in sight.