Steve Round discusses Paul McGrath: The Training-Free Legend Who Defied Sports Science
Premier League Museum Admin 
Paul McGrath
Steve Round reflected on his experiences working with Paul McGrath at Derby County, where he emphasized McGrath’s exceptional performance levels despite not participating in regular training sessions.
Steve Round said “When I first started out as a youth coach we had a player called Paul McGrath who we’d signed and never trained a day. He didn’t set one foot on the training ground. The only time he did was to walk round the pitch and watch training, so he might walk round two laps. But he played every single game and singlehandedly, near enough, kept us in the league that year. He was absolutely magnificent.”
Steve Round discussed the contrast between McGrath’s unique abilities and the ambitions of younger professionals who seek to improve through sports science and advanced training methods.
Steve Round said “So that bucked the trend of what we were trying to do in terms of creating a sports science background to our professionals. On the other side of the coin you’ve got young vibrant professionals who are looking for the edge, who want to improve, who want to get better. If you put in front of them a tool or a system or something they recognise can help them improve as a player and as a team, help them win more games on Saturday…”
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