BURNLEY’S first team squad fly out to their training camp in Evian today with George Boyd insisting the time spent together will do wonders for team spirit.

Boyd believes the Clarets had the best spirit in the Championship last season and pinpointed it as a secret weapon in their charge to the title.

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Sean Dyche’s squad, minus Tom Heaton, Stephen Ward and Sam Vokes, who have been at Euro 2016, returned to pre-season training last week and they will spend the next five days on the shores of Lake Geneva.

“It’s massive for the team spirit,” Boyd said of the trip.

“We haven’t seen each other for a while so to be seeing each other every day and living with each other is great.

“The trips are great for us and we look forward to them.”

Burnley will take over their training facilities at Stade Camille Fournier from Euro 2016 semi-finalists Germany.

Boyd was part of the squad that spent time at the same base a year ago and is looking forward to returning to the idyllic setting.

“It’s a really beautiful place, it’s a nice place to be for five or six days and you get used to the double sessions,” he said.

The bonding it allows between players and staff could also prove crucial as well.

The Clarets resolve saw them grab crucial late equalisers against promotion rivals Brighton and Middlesbrough towards the end of last season.

And Boyd is in no doubt how crucial that strong spirit is, as Wales and Iceland have shown in recent weeks at the European Championships.

“I think that alone helped us become champions last year. I don’t think anyone else in the league had that team spirit we had,” said the 30-year-old.

“It’s something we’ll take forward into the big league.

“Iceland and Wales aren’t as talented as the other teams in Euro 2016 but it got them through games. It’s a big strength of ours and one we’ll use next season.”

While the chance to recapture that spirit is a part of the trip the real work will take place on the training pitch.

The players are set to be put through several double sessions as well as the possibility of a gruelling day of fitness and teamwork tests put on by Turf boss Dyche.

“We’ve got a great fitness and sports science team, here, they do everything right,” said Boyd. “The real work will start in Evian and over the next few weeks. We really pride ourselves on our fitness.”

The training camp will end with the first pre-season friendly of the summer, against Swiss third tier side Stade Nyonnais on Friday night.

The squad will have to get a boat across Lake Geneva to reach the Swiss shoreline before taking on their opponents at 7.30pm local time.

“It will be good, it’s nice to get the games rolling in,” Boyd said of that first outing. “It’s two weeks of hard graft and then the games come every few days.

“You feel your fitness improving game-by-game. The first 45 minutes can be tough, trying to get your feet moving again, but it’s huge for the first game of the season.”