Due to his involvement with England at the U21 European Championships this summer John Swift was afforded extra time off at the start of pre-season.
He’s now back at it though and has joined Reading in Holland.
Swift has recalled his experience of pre-season last summer telling the Official Website how important that was at the time but thankfully this time round he knows most of the Royals squad so should fit in seamlessly despite his late arrival at Oosterbeek.
‘This was a big experience for me last year, but it’s a lot easier for me this year knowing everybody, and hopefully getting straight back into training.’
England, which happens most of the time, suffered penalty shootout disappointment to Germany in the semi-finals of the Euros, adding to Swifts loss on penalties for Reading in the play-off final against Huddersfield last season.
He thought England deserved more from his final involvement at U21 level.
‘The Euros were a great experience to be involved in, it was my last trip away with the 21s as well, but it was another bad ending to be honest. I think we deserved better than what we got. The boys did really well and for a few of them, it was their last trip as well, same as me. It was a disappointing end, but it was a great experience to be out there.’
Looking ahead to this season Swift said he was hopeful of Reading picking up where we left off last time round and using that play-off defeat as added motivation.
‘I think the play-offs are massive. I think the fire is that everyone wants to get back there, hopefully we can do the same as last season and really push on. Start well and that’ll give us a good platform to carry on and re-do what we did last year.’
Swift knows he shouldn’t take too long to get up to speed after a short break as he had the international involvement to keep his fitness levels up.
He finished: ‘I haven’t had too long off so it should be quite easy for me to get straight back into training. Obviously it’ll take a couple of sessions to get up to speed, but fitness wise I feel good and kept myself ticking over the break. Hopefully I’ll get straight back in, I feel good.’
A double Reading friendly against Sparta Rotterdam and Cercle Brugge will be played on Saturday, which could see Swift making his playing return for the Royals too.
