• Coach Rast

Day 5 (June 30) - You'll Never Walk Alone

An hour journey west and we are in Liverpool.  We passed Everton's Goodison Park, only a stone's throw to Liverpool's Anfield.   Both clubs are mainstays in the English Premier League and can literally look at each others grounds.  

Liverpool, by trophies, are the most successful club in England and our tour guide was deeply proud of the heritage.

It's hard not to get drawn into the sentiment when the crowd bellows "You will never walk alone" on the promotional videos.   A quick trip to the megastore and we are off to training at DCBL Stadium.

As it is a recovery day we have a couple Everton trainers come by and contribute to the team's experience.  Kate and Paddy each gave some insight into top level soccer recovery.

Once back to the hotel it was time to be ready for the journey south to Birmingham.

Day 6 (July 1) - The Blackburn FC Bus Has No Equal

This time of year there are a multitude of transfers in professional football but our only one was from Manchester to Birmingham.

Vertex was able to secure a brand new motor coach acquired by Blackburn FC for 900k pounds ($1.3 million US).

Birmingham is the second largest city in England and home to Aston Villa, Birmingham FC and the Peeky Blinders.

On the journey down we stopped into LeekTown FC for training. It was great little hometown training ground and good to breakup the three hour journey.

Once in Birmingham it was dinner and then Activity Night.

First it was the batting cages and on to Remote Control Car Racing. Nine drivers in three heats lead to the Birmingham 15 Finale. Caden Buckley in car #4 and Timbo (Timmy Rast) took the checker flag to bring the evening's events to a close.

Day off tomorrow.