Sunderland landed in Portugal for their warm-weather training camp yesterday, with Alex Neil and his players jetting in to Faro from Newcastle. Their scheduled Ryanair flight arrived within minutes of my (delayed) flight from Leeds-Bradford and we hit the baggage reclaim at the same time.
The players wasted no time as they strode towards the waiting coach at a fair old clip with their smart suitcases in tow, but spare a thought for Black Cats kitman Steve Aziz and the coaching staff piled up like packhorses with all the boots, medical, training and match gear trundling along behind. And Ryanair boss Michael O'Leary will be rubbing his hands at the thought of those excess baggage charges . . .
While the players were straight off the plane and on to the coach, it was Uber and out for me as I headed for Albufeira. My driver Daniel was Brazilian and, as well as his first language Portuguese, he also spoke fluent French - but communication proved a challenge, since he spoke no English and even my basic Spanish was no help.
