By Dan Newbould
West Bromwich Albion striker Daryl Dike says new manager Ryan Mason has been 鈥済reat鈥. Dike is hoping to hit the ground running having missed the bulk of last season through injury. He and his fellow team-mates have been hard at work in the gym and on the training pitches in preparation for the start of the new Championship season next month. 鈥淩yan has been great. I know coming into a new environment can be very difficult, but he鈥檚 been great,鈥欌 said Dike. 鈥淗e鈥檚 a good leader and a good person. You can tell he expects us to work hard in every single session. That鈥檚 one of his things, pushing players to develop positive and good habits. 鈥淭actically, he鈥檚 a very good guy. You can see he always likes to be involved, whether it鈥檚 meetings or during a session. No matter what, he鈥檚 very precise. I think having a gaffer like that is very, very important for us.鈥 On his own physical condition and pre-season, Dike revealed: 鈥淎s a player we keep training when we鈥檙e away for the summer, but when you鈥檙e back out here and you鈥檙e running, it doesn鈥檛 really compare. 鈥淭he first week back has been really good. It鈥檚 been good, first and foremost, to be back around the training ground. Then, of course, we have a new coaching staff, so we鈥檝e been getting to know them and their tactics. We鈥檝e also been getting involved in lots of sessions. 鈥淚鈥檓 happy with where I鈥檓 at and how I ended last term. I鈥檓 happy I could show myself and show everyone I can still do these kinds of things. 鈥淚鈥檓 really happy to have had a whole summer off and to be going into a whole pre-season to fully regenerate myself, I guess. I want to keep the momentum going into the new season. 鈥淭he atmosphere has been good, everyone is buzzing to get back to it. I think, as a footballer, of course pre-season is hard work, but we all love what we do. We love being out here, we love training and we love working hard.鈥欌