Jack Ross is hoping to have as many new players in as possible before pre-season is in full swing, but he knows that’s easier said than done. Ross said: “To begin with, as a manager, you want as much in place as early as you can to prepare for the season as best you can. That isn’t going to be the case here for various reasons, but I knew that when I came into the job. Maybe I would have liked to have been a little bit further ahead but that isn’t possible and that is probably partly down to the hangover from what has happened to the club in the last few years.”
The gaffer also reckons that he’ll not give pre-season game time to players who don’t want to be at the club. Ross said: “In terms of the players themselves, the only way for me to judge them is out on the training pitch. The one thing I said to them as a group last week is that you can’t affect anything that went before, you can only affect what lies ahead. Some of them that might be in the middle [their future undecided], it is up to me to show them that this is a good place to be and that they can play a part in something exciting. Others might have made up their minds completely that they don’t want to be here, and that is an easy one for me because there is no point in me involving people who don’t want to be here. That’s an ongoing process because you start to get a feel for things when the players are back and you can speak to them. What I will say – and we are low on numbers, there’s only about 16 training at the moment including four or five young ones – is that the players who have been here have been brilliant, really good, really responsive, happy, enjoyed it, and have worked hard. That’s a good starting point for me.”
Meanwhile, Luke Molyneux is looking to take advantage of his opportunity to shine in the Portuguese sun this week and he’s just delighted to be there! “I wasn’t sure what was going to happen last week because of my knee but my scan came back positive and that allowed me to come on the plane to Portugal,” he said. “The facilities out here are perfect, so it should be a good week. It is a big opportunity to be out here. If I had been told I can’t come then it would’ve been a chance missed as I wouldn’t have been able to show the manager what I can do. I want to be here, so I can show the new manager what I am cable of. It gives me so much confidence to be here. It means I can get better and get prepared for the season ahead. They are very, very high intense sessions, especially with the heat, and the sessions are very competitive. Everyone is here to win.”
