Overwhelmingly voted Player of the Year by City fans and narrowly pipped for the PFA Young Player of the Year trophy, midfield maestro Stevie was rewarded this week with a new five-year contract by the club.
But there is no resting on his laurels for action-man Ireland - and his City team-mates are so impressed by the effects of his summer activities that they are enquiring whether they can get the benefit as well.
He said: “Nedum Onuoha and Benjani have both been asking about having a go. I’ve already started my fitness programme again. I’m doing power-lifting and Olympic-lifting weights at my gym in Glossop. There’s a bit of kick-boxing in there and cage fighting too – all of it carefully supervised I should add!
“I’m there until eleven at night on occasions working on my fitness. I want to be even stronger next season and the manager is fine with it. Last season we had eight weeks off - this year we only have five, so I decided to start a bit earlier so I would get the same kind of results.”
Ireland is convinced that his unorthodox summer stint was a key factor in his best season so far for City. He added: “What I aim to do is make sure that I am the very best player that I can be and fulfil every bit of my potential. I’ll be ready to go from the moment we report back in July.
I will have the same mentality going into the next season as I did in this one. You should never forget that you are only ever as good as your last game.
Stephen Ireland
“There is plenty more to come in all aspects of my game. It is not easy to say I always did this well or that not so well, because every game is different.
“Some days it’s a battle, you get by-passed and just have to work hard for the team; others are full of great passing and technique. That’s why you have to be multi-dimensional and why I’m working on my all-around game.”
