“It’s Good To Be Back Together And Working Hard”

Cameron Jerome is enjoying the hard work during his first pre-season as a Derby County player, as the squad continue to be put through their paces in Tenerife.

The 31-year-old striker arrived from Norwich City back in January and went on to produce an explosive end to last season with five goals in his last five games.

Now, Jerome is preparing for his first full season as a Derby player and he is delighted to be back putting in the hard yards with his teammates ahead of the new campaign.

He told RamsTV: “It’s good for the boys to come in and bond together as a group, especially after the summer off and being away from each other, so it’s good to be back together and working hard.

“With the new staff coming in, it’s good for everybody to integrate together as a group, with some of the younger players making it a bigger group as well.

“The lads have had some fun, along with the hard work.

“It’s enjoyable because it’s a new chapter with a new manager and everybody is desperate to impress, so it pushes you a little bit harder.

“It is tough, but after the first couple of days of adapting, you can just get on with it.

“Tenerife is a lovely place to come and train and it’s a different scenery than being home at the training ground.”

New boss Frank Lampard has been supported by Assistant Manager Jody Morris and First Team Coach Chris Jones out on the training pitch, and Jerome is excited by what he’s seen so far.

“The first impressions have been really good, I’ve been really impressed with the sessions and it’s been different from what I’ve had in the past,” he explained.

“The boys have taken it in their stride, we’ve gone into every session and applied ourselves with the correct attitude.

“With Chris and Jody, they are very enthusiastic and they are straight in and at you and making sure that everybody is working hard.

“They are pushing and driving the boys to be doing things properly.”

The forward also believes that the players have already had a taste of the style of football that they will be playing this season, with possession-based drills becoming a regular sight out on the pitch.

Personally, Jerome is eager to translate the work in Tenerife into a match scenario, the first opportunity of which will come when the Rams face Notts County next Saturday (14th July, kick-off: 3pm).

He said: “The manager had a brief discussion with us on the first day of pre-season about how he wants us to play, and they have been trying to implement that into the sessions.

“They want to introduce that high-tempo and high-pressing, with a lot of energy with and without the ball.

“It’s been tough and hard on the legs because everything is based around getting after the ball and getting after teams higher up the pitch.

“That’s the way that they see us playing football, so it’s only right that we start from the first day of pre-season.

“It will be nice to open up into a big area and start to move onto that second phase and transition into games.”