Derry City's Fat Club and the 'one percenters': How Tiernan Lynch is driving professional standards at Brandywell

​The terminology may sound 'crude' as Lynch puts it but an elevated level of intensity, work rate and fitness is integral to the Derry manager's modus operandi.

No one wants to be in 'Fat Club' which entails two days of additional training per week to ensure they hit their individual body fat percentage target set by the coaches but it's an accepted process which will keep players on their toes and help those returning from injury to recover expected levels of fitness. It's not punishment but about raising standards.

He's not reinventing the wheel by any stretch: in fact measuring players’ body fat percentages with skin fold tests on a regular basis was in operation last year under Ruaidhri Higgins. Interest in the body composition of football players and how it affects performances spans decades but Lynch's approach is science and stats driven using measurements and metrics to ensure optimal performance.

'Fat club' isn't a new term either in football circles but it's a phrase which has slipped into the Derry City vocabulary over pre-season and, Lynch explains, it's about ensuring his players are continuously raising standards so they're in 'peak condition on a Friday night'.

"I don't know what was here before but what we want to do," he began. "Well, the game of football has changed. Before it was very much about ability but the game has become very athletic and about athletes, legs and energy.

"One of the things we have to make sure is that everybody is at peak condition to play.

"We've put in the body fats and weights we want every player to get down to in order for them to be the best version of themselves which will give us the best version of us as a team.

"So anybody that's not at those levels, they come in two days a week and they do extra until they get themselves to those levels."

Lynch is expected to usher in a new standard of physical fitness at Derry City and the Belfast man has implemented a strict training regime scheduled followed with military precision at the club's state-of-the-art temporary training base at Owenbeg. It's a professional working environment the club has been crying out for.

As the players arrive at the impressive Dungiven venue - expected to be their home for the next two years - they change for training and have time to enjoy a breakfast made by the resident chef in the large kitchen and lounge area on the bottom floor of the complex on the 48 acre site.

Split into small groups around tables, the players casually shoot the breeze or opt to play table tennis or darts in the games area but there's a stark change in mood once the clock strikes 10a.m. on the club's media day last Monday morning.

Andy Mitchell, the club's new first team coach explains the schedule is always the same as the players gather around a large TV screen in the corner of the meeting room which shows how this particular day will be planned out.

There's even a dedicated timeframe for applying strappings and lacing up your boots and the City players are given a run down on what training will entail on that given day.

These are the 'one percenters' which will take a team, which last year was dragged from pillar to post daily for training sessions, to another level of professionalism and hopefully the next step in terms of winning silverware.

"It's massive," said Mitchell of the importance of Owenbeg's one-stop shop.

"I think Larne were probably the first ones to do it, so we've actually seen what really good looks like. People maybe think you can get away without it: we don't need breakfast or the boys don't need their pre-match meals, or we could really do without post-match meals.

"Once you start adding in all those wee one percenters, as the gaffer calls them, everything starts lifting. You start seeing yourself getting fitter. You start seeing yourself doing extra. You start seeing the players dialling into it more and this is just another thing we've tried to implement here.

"The club has been crying out for this for so long. Strong foundations and getting a base and you can see all the players come in and are all sitting together talking about the weekend. It's not boys coming in cars to train and getting in cars straight afterwards to go elsewhere. Everything is regimented.

"You can see on the big screen the timings are up of exactly what time the boys walk out on the pitch, what time they're finished on the pitch, when the session stops, when it ends. What time they are in the gym, what time are their strappings - everything. And we do this every single day so the boys are familiarising themselves with it. I think they're crying out for it as well.

"They're enjoying it and hopefully it can help them keep kicking on."