Urawa Reds were quick off the mark to begin training for the 2009 season this week, but then the Saitama club has good reason to be impatient for a fresh start.
New manager Volker Finke took charge of his first session on Monday, running the rule over a team that lurched from crisis to crisis last season before the utter humiliation of a 6-1 final-day home defeat to Yokohama F. Marinos.
Along the way came the sackings of two managers, fights on and off the pitch, no trophies and the ignominy of a seventh-place league finish.