by Martin Spinks
martin.spinks@thesentinel.co.uk

SO here we are, Wednesday morning and our trip is already drawing to a close.

The first-team squad should be touching down in Blighty some time in late afternoon today.

And no, sadly, we didn't pick up any new signings while we were out in Austria.

Having the club doctor travel out for the week did set tongues wagging about a possible medical being set up for a new face arriving behind the rest of the party.

Either that or he's simply out here on a jolly.

Turns out neither was true. Premier League rules insists the doctor has to travel with such expensive merchandise, while much of his week has been spent undertaking the annual medicals on existing players which are now required in the top flight of the English game.

Trips like this are invaluable for giving a rare insight into the players from close-quarters, both as individuals and as a collective.

And yes, it's only natural to check that all is well with Stoke City.

And all does appear healthy.

The competitiveness on the training field and the atmosphere off it must be pretty close to what any manager wants at this stage of pre-season training.

Some of the cleaner banter has included:

Ryan Shawcross being told to "get out of the quicksand" because he was moving a bit slow.

Or Andy Griffin hitting the deck after a heroic attempt at an ambitious shot, then hearing James Beattie bellow: "Come on Griff, put your legs back on again."

OK, sometimes you have to be there to truly appreciate the moment, but the point is that the spirit among the players is such that insults fly back and forth as proof of the harmony that seems to exist out there.

Sure, there's probably one or two players who might not get on particularly well with one another - as you'd expect in any group of 30-odd people working in close proximity with each other - but any such disquiet is drowned out by the kind of spirit actively fostered by the management team.

Some players are especially close to one another, though not in the biblical sense you understand.

The closest? Probably a play-off between Andy Wilkinson and Carl Dickinson against Rory Delap and Danny Higginbotham.

Come to think of it, thanks to a few recent head shaves, they are looking more and more like two sets of twins.

Their long-standing friendships are being slowly challenged elsewhere within the squad, however, as the likes of Messrs Beattie & Lawrence, Whelan & Pugh, Griffin & Kitson and Whitehead & Ashton are knitting together nicely.

Not so nicely that the players aren't ready for home and their loved ones though.

Of course they enjoy a tremendously privileged wage and lifestyle, but there are sacrifices along the way and a week away from partners and young children is chief among them.

You certainly began to sense that on the 90-minute journey back from last night's 1-1 draw with Hapoel Tel Aviv.

At least a DVD of the gangster film Rock 'n Roller passed the time... but we never got to see the end.

Dinner was served when we returned to the hotel and then the manager thanked the players for their genuine efforts during the week.

This morning he was lining them up in pairs for some physical challenges followed by some brain teasers at the end... apologising to Liam Lawrence for him having to use his brain.

Yours truly was asked to trawl the internet and stump up the brain teasers, the last of which was: If you were to spell out numbers in full from one upwards, how long before you reach a number with the letter A in it?

The answer is one thousand, so don't be surprised if they miss their flight home!

Their absence from home and family life has been softened by the surroundings here at the Hotel Schloss Pilchlarn.

The 1,000 year-old converted castle really is a grand structure in a breathtaking Alpine setting.

The staff, particularly the girls in traditional Austrian dress, are always obliging and ready to attend to your every need. Well most of them!

Perhaps those can be taken care of in the intriguingly named House Of Harmony down on the lower ground floor of the hotel.

Not quite sure what goes on down there, been too shy to investigate, but everyone ascending the stairs back to the ground floor does so with a big smile on their face.

Rumours abound that the old castle is haunted, of course, though the locals are very sketchy about the details... well it wouldn't be great for trade.

The jangle of keys and periodic groans have been heard reverberating around the corridors in the wee small hours, but then again kitman Giff has been known to sleepwalk on these trips.