WADE Elliott almost torments himself as he toe-taps a brand new mitre football, so shiny he can almost see his face in it.

He turns to team-mate Alan Mahon and says: “We can chase these all day.”

But, on only the second day of pre-season, he should be so lucky.

The majority of those footballs stay tied up in their bags. Only a couple have escaped before an afternoon session when they will be introduced.

In the meantime, the Burnley players must run ... and run ... and run.

After captain Steven Caldwell led the warm-up and stretch, assistant manager Sandy Stewart gathered the troops together.

“Once we start, that’ll be us for 20 minutes,” barked the Scot, a little after 10.30 on a mild but blowy morning at Gawthorpe.

“There’ll be different speeds involved, but there’ll be no walking.”

Stewart and first team coach Steve Davis go on to lead two lines of players on the first of many work-outs.

While manager Owen Coyle maps out the next exercise - the intriguingly-named ‘Union Jack’ on the adjacent pitch, the squad trots off in military fashion; jumping, scooping, touching the grass with their left and right hands, skipping, side-stepping, speeding up and slowing down whenever Stewart demands.

It looks complicated at times, not to mention tiring, but everyone maintains a steady pace and the exercise is completed without complaint.

But perhaps that’s because they know there is worse to come.

“On the first day we did some physical work in the morning and then did some drills with the ball in the afternoon,” explained Coyle.

“We want to get the ball out as early as we can and combine both, but there is a need that you’ve got a base to work from, and the way the lads have come back we’ve got that base, so I think we’re moving on a wee bit quicker than in years gone by. And that’s all credit to the players in how they’ve come back.

“The last thing you want to do is go into the ball work, in terms of interacting with each other, and risk picking up injuries. So they need to have that base of fitness before you can enter into that sort of stuff.

“But, having seen what I’ve seen in the first two days, I don’t think they’re far away from doing that. And given that we’ve got a game on July 10 when we go to America, we’re purposely looking to achieve that so we’ll move things on.

“We’ll still be working hard but combining both.”

Coyle has set the bar for the ‘Union Jack’ by completing the course himself, and wants the players to finish the 1000-metre or so circuit in under three minutes.

They are split into four groups, setting off from a post at one corner, into the middle where Coyle directs them to the other points on the ‘flag’. Each group takes their turn, before the process is repeated four times.

On the first attempt, Adam Kay powers home in 2 minutes 45 seconds, in the next group Wade Elliott clocks 2mins 50.

Each player within the squad gets a shout of encouragement from Coyle and his backroom team, who are carefully monitoring every member of their troop. The players themselves offer their own vocal support for the runners, while those who are pounding the pitch retain a competitive edge as the lead changes hands.

“It’s been refreshing because I’ve been at other clubs where players have been holding each others’ hands, for want of a better phrase - but they’re pushing each other on and getting the best out of each other, and it’s magnificent to see that,” said Coyle.

“Even with us barking at the side to cajole them and encourage them, but they’re doing it off their own bat with that and responding to that, and it’s very heartening.”

They would be forgiven for getting slower each time, but while the majority level out, both Elliott and Chris McCann better previous runs on the last attempt to finish in just over 2mins 40 before a welcome drinks break.

The path of that course is altered slightly, and reduced to around 800m in length.

It is pleasing to see Michael Duff and Besart Berisha, who both suffered cruciate knee ligament injuries last year, looking strong as the players set out on the new-look course.

Robbie Blake gets a second wind to lead his pack.

“Go on Kiptanui!” shouts Mahon from the sidelines, in reference to the Kenyan long distance Olympic gold medal winner Moses.

Their breathing may be getting heavier as the tough session ticks on, but the banter remains in full flow.

Coyle said: “We know we’ve got a tremendous group of lads and a great team spirit that we’re trying to develop, and that’s why America and indeed Scotland and Ireland will be important in that as well, so we’re trying to take training on because it will stand us in good stead when the season starts.”