FOR many football clubs, team bonding exercises might consist of going for a meal or an activity such as paintball.
But that’s not good enough for FC Midtjylland, who spent three days in the cold and dark of the Scottish Highlands.
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FC MidtjyllandFC Midtjylland sent the squad to the Scottish Highlands[/caption]
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FC MidtjyllandSquad went there as part of a team-building exercise[/caption]
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FC MidtjyllandMentality coach BS Christiansen wanted players to find who they really were[/caption]
The Danish league leaders were sent on the team-building exercise by mentality coach, BS Christiansen.
Midtjylland stayed on land owned by club majority owner Anders Holch Povlsen in Cairngorms National Park on the Glenfeshie Estate near Inverness.
According to Christiansen, the trip aimed to get the players to find who they really were.
The players faced severe weather conditions with temperatures dropping as low as -21 degrees Celsius.
Not that their equipment helped them a lot, with the squad being handed “very cheap sleeping bags”.
Speaking on BBC Radio Scotland, Christiansen gave some insight into the trip and the going ons during it.
He said: “I just issued them the minimum of equipment. I bought them a very, very cheap sleeping bag.
“If I gave them polar equipment they would just be one by one but now everybody had to stick together.
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FC MidtjyllandSquad spent three days on the trip[/caption]
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FC MidtjyllandOne player revealed team starved for 24 hours[/caption]
“On the last night, everybody slept in one big group of 32 guys to keep warm.
“When I take them out in the wilderness where they can get no help, the only help they can get is from each other.”
Christiansen, who might be a fan of Sci-Fi classic Alien based on his comments, added the players only knew they were in Scotland and “if they scream for help, no one will hear them”.
And while on the pitch they are top of the Superliga, skills such as hunting proved to be far more challenging to utilise, with striker Aral Simsir revealing that the squad once went 24 hours without eating.
The adventure was documented on Danish TV and the club’s YouTube channel.
Christiansen said: “They had to think even though it was under heavy pressure to survive.
“I said to them ‘now you have to survive three days in the Scottish fantastic nature, if you can handle that we have what it takes to win the trophy’.
“They shot a couple of deer, some pheasants and some ducks but they didn’t know what happened hour to hour.
“They know if they don’t shoot anything, they will have no food, so that was the consequence.”
He later revealed this unorthodox method had been 40 years in the making, after confessing his love for Scotland following his time training there with the Danish special army forces in the 1980s.
He said: “It was my first trip to Scotland. We flew over the North Sea and Atlantic Ocean and into the Mull of Kintyre.
“I fell in love with Scotland to be honest with you.”
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FC MidtjyllandInspiration came from mentality coach falling in love with Scotland in the 1980s[/caption]
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FC MidtjyllandTeam stayed on land owned by majority club owner Anders Holch Povlsen[/caption]