Stephen Hunt: Hard work the secret of Ronaldo's success

MARCUS HAHNEMANN was our goalkeeper at Reading in the Premier League. He was not young, he had worked hard to get to the best league in the world. And when he was not happy, everyone knew about it. Marcus was a big lad, an American ‘keeper, and a very driven man. He was obsessed with his training; having the right gear, all the equipment, the goalmouths and the preparations had to be spot on and there should be no distractions. The Premier League was new to us all and in the first six months, we wanted to make the best of it, enjoy it and embrace it. And as time went on, we started to make more demands and expect more from the club because of the level we were playing at, and the opponents we were facing every week. One day in that first season, Marcus was going bananas on the training ground because the balls were not pumped up properly. He was shouting and bellowing that the balls were flat and he started kicking them left, right and centre off the training pitch so they were landing in the car park, over hedges and around the buildings. Steve Coppell always preferred to avoid confrontation but obviously it is very difficult to ignore a big roaring goalkeeper booting balls around the training ground. Perhaps because he’d come from America, where he told us training ground standards are perfect in schools and colleges and clubs, he set his own standards very high. Marcus was late to the Premier League and didn’t want to waste a single day. I think when you’ve taken a longer route to get to the top, as many of us had in that Reading team, you take the view that you’ve earned it so you want everything to be perfect. http://cdn-02.independent.ie/incoming/article35689086.ece/25443/BINARY/cristiano.jpg During that first season, there was so much around the club that was enjoyable. Going into the gym before training was enjoyable and everyone wanted to improve, not least the club. So it was exciting to listen to the plans for the training ground as we all strived to move forward. We all wanted to work in the new weights room when it was ready and play and train on the new pitches. And when the ice baths came in, we were all diving in to use them. There was a buzz and excitement around the squad, and you felt part of an adventure. And the more that was offered, the more we wanted. It’s like when you pick that Titleist Pro V1 out of the bag on the first tee. You know it is a brand new, top quality ball and it gives you a little extra confidence before you hit it because you know it’s one of the best golf balls. Footballers feel like that about their preparations and training. I have been to many training grounds around the world and it is no surprise that Real Madrid’s is up there with the very best. It is everything you would expect for one of the game’s biggest clubs, and more. The Real Madrid players must love going to work. From the moment someone like Cristiano Ronaldo arrives at the training ground, I imagine he’s waited on, hand and foot. His car will be driven away and cleaned if required, he’ll have someone there to put his flip-flops on, hold his protein shakes, have his training gear ready. And he’ll have that care and attention until he goes home for the day. It has to motivate a player like him to train hard every day because it is soon taken away from you. It is not all about wages and cars and big houses. Being treated like a world class footballer has to drive the players at a club like Real Madrid. Can you imagine working hard throughout your young life to reach that level of the game, and to be looked after and almost pampered every day by one of the greatest clubs in the world? Every one of them had to fight and sweat to get there.