STEVE Coppell says he has no intention of running Bristol City's players into the ground during pre-season.

A thoroughly modern manager, the former Manchester United and England winger will instead adopt a more scientific approach in an attempt to bring players to peak fitness in time for the opening game of the npower Championship campaign at home to newly-promoted Millwall on Saturday, August 7.

And the emphasis will be on careful conditioning and the avoidance of injuries rather than running and gym work.

Coppell said: "The idea of just running players to fitness is old fashioned and not something to which I subscribe. Things are more scientific these days and we have to be aware of the science.

"I like players to work with the ball rather than running around the training ground for day after day. If the ground is hard, as is so often is at this time of year, it can cause injuries."

City's players reported back for pre-season training a week ago and will continue to work at the club's Failand training headquarters before embarking on an eight-day tour to Sweden on Sunday.

Open-minded in his approach, Coppell will adapt training on a daily basis to suit the needs of the players.

He said: "You have to be flexible at this time of the year. By all means, work within a broad framework, but don't be afraid to change things as you go along.

"For instance, if we overload the players at any time, it will be important to make things easier for them the next day.

"My job is to ensure every single player is fit and ready to play on August 7 and that means pacing ourselves and not just throwing ourselves into it."

Coppell has no intention of following in his predecessor's footsteps and establishing a 'fat club', thereby singling out less fit players for special treatment as Gary Johnson did before him.

He said: "Long gone are the days when players would come back having spent six weeks sitting on the beach in Spain and not even thinking about football.

"These days, they are far more conscious of the need to have a holiday to refresh themselves mentally, while looking after themselves at the same time.

"Players are different now from days gone by and they tend to report back in pretty good condition.

"We have a good bunch of lads here and, apart from those who are carrying injuries from last season, they have all come back in decent shape."

Defenders Jamie McAllister and Louis Carey have recovered from a cut foot and torn calf muscle respectively and will join the squad in Sweden next week.