HIS wedding to Holly has just been splashed over the glossy pages of Hello magazine.

The lavish festivities in Majorca were given the full celebrity treatment for City midfielder Josh Wright.

A few butterflies in the spotlight would have been understandable. But it was the prospect of standing up to sing in front of his new team-mates that really had the nerves kicking in.

With nine previous clubs under his belt, Wright is a veteran of football’s traditional initiation ceremony.

But that didn’t make him feel any more comfortable when he stood on his seat in the dining room of the Carden Park hotel for the ice-breaking solo.

“You know it’s coming,” he smiled. “It’s not nice when you’re up there doing it but it’s what it gives everyone else.

“It gives them all a bit of a buzz and a laugh and the phones come out. They are jeering or cheering depending on how good you are.

“I’ve done a few now and I’m a little bit more used to it than a few others are here.

“It’s something they do in football. I don’t know who came up with the idea but more or less every club do it.

“You half look forward to it – but it’s nerve-wracking. You’re just glad when you step down off the chair and it’s done.

“A sigh of relief comes out but it helps you bed in. It brings you together and you have a laugh.”

Team bonding and establishing that camaraderie of the dressing room is as big a part of pre-season as building up fitness and sharpness again.

Taking everyone away as City did to Chester last week is part of the process of trying to create the tight-knit group that will stay together through the ups and downs of a long campaign.

Wright said: “It’s massive being away like that. You’re with the boys 24/7.

“You’re spending all the time with each other, having a few sing-songs as well, and linking up not just on the training field but in and around the hotel.

“We were very impressed with everything about the place. You want to come away and work hard and the facilities were fantastic.

“A lot of teams go abroad pre-season, most if not all of mine have been.

“But it’s not always guaranteed to be hot wherever you go. So, to get the weather as well, there’s not much more you can ask for.

“You get more of a sweat on but it makes everyone smile and long may it continue.”

Wright knew head coach Michael Collins already from their time together at Scunthorpe.

And the meticulous approach to training from the new boss has come as no surprise.

Wright added: “I’ve been really impressed but, after playing with him for a little bit for Scunthorpe, I could always see he was going to go down the coaching or manager’s route. I knew he had that in him then.

“Everything is organised. As the old saying goes, if you’re not prepared then you might fail.

“It’s structured towards the game and knowing what each individual player in their position needs to do. Before we go to training, we have a little meeting short and sharp so we know what we’re going to do.”

The change in coaching set-up has signified a modern approach to training and plenty of football-specific fitness work. That’s something that Wright is really enjoying.

“You obviously have to be fit with or without the ball but we’re footballers and when you’ve got the ball you have to look after it.

“We’re doing a lot of that and I hope it’s going to continue, which I’m sure it will.

“I can’t wait until we line up for the games. We’re getting ourselves really prepared and that’s a credit to the staff so far.

“It’s been very hard but you have to keep going.

“When you’re on the ball, you have to make angles and move; when you lose it, you’ve got to win it back as sharply as we can. That’s what we’ve been working on.

“You could run all day, put the boys out there and make them run up and down the road or round the pitch. If you don’t throw a ball at them, they’re not going to react and not going to be ready.

“We’re doing a lot of hard work but with the football involved. We’re doing both, running but also using the ball at the same time.

“A lot of the big sides do it like that now and I think it’s brilliant. The boys are getting a lot out of it.”