As some of the older members of last season’s squad have now moved up to the under-21s, a younger class of first-year scholars and under-16 schoolboys have joined Davis side, with the team due to get minutes into their legs with training matches against FC Winterthur and Grasshopper Club Zurich in the coming days.
But more importantly for the head coach is the relationships that trips abroad like this will build between his players and coaching staff.
On returning for pre-season
“It’s been a good first week back. We came back last Monday and we’ve just eased the boys back in over the week, and as the weekend approached, we began to build it up a bit in terms of the intensity.
“The new scholars have settled in really well, but it helped by having most of those lads playing last season, so they already know what we do and they already know the rest of the boys. While the new lads that we’ve signed have come into the group and really settled well, and then six of the under-16 schoolboys joined us on Thursday for training.
“We’ve got a decent group this year. They’re good lads who look like they want to work hard, so it’s been a very good first week.”
On spending this week in Zurich
“We’re heading over this week to train at Grasshoppers’ facility, so that’s going to be a good experience for all the lads, in terms of building relationships with them, between staff, players and each other.
“We should have time to do that during the week, but we also have a couple of games out there, and it’s going to be hot by the looks of things. The weather is going to be quite hot next week, so it’ll be a good test for the players, but we have to be mindful of that as well with our plans.
“But it will be nice just to get away and experience something different. We spend a lot of our time at Compton, so it’s nice during this time of year, while the weather’s good, to visit such a lovely place.
“We’re lucky that we’re able to do this as a club and give our young players these different experiences in pre-season.”
On the benefits of a pre-season tour
“Building the relationship between the players and the staff is the most important part of pre-season. It’s the thing you want to build, that relationship and that trust and get to know each other better.
“Then when you’re coaching, that difficult conversation you have to have during their scholarship or when they sign pro, becomes a bit easier. If you don’t build those relationships, then those conversations become a lot trickier and can be quite tough.
“It’s a good opportunity for us as coaches to get to know them better and build those bridges and relationships ready for that moment. There will be difficult times for them, there will be bumps in the road during their careers, so if you know them and you know how they’re going to react to it, you can help them deal with those situations a lot better.”
On getting minutes into the players’ legs
“For us, results aren’t important in pre-season. We’ll just be looking at getting the players minutes into their legs and having a look at certain players, new players, and seeing how they fit into how we play.
“We’ll look at different systems because we want to be quite versatile again this season with how we play, and we’re not going to stick rigidly to one system. The key principles will remain the same as the first-team and the under-21s, but the systems that we play will be different.
“This will give them different learning tools which will benefit them later on in their careers, so this week will be about that. It will be about playing two different teams, giving them 45 minutes each, and then doing the same again for the second game.
“The following week, when were back, we’ll just look to build on the minutes, and hopefully we won’t get quite as much disruption this season as what we did last through Covid, injuries and the numbers of players who went up into the under-23s very early on.
“Hopefully that won’t be the case again this season, and we can prepare them better for that first game and build that base for the rest of the season.”
On players moving up the age groups
“At the moment our numbers are ok. Some of the numbers within the under-21s are dwindling with players going out on loan, but it depends on those teams above us as it has a domino effect down the age groups.
“But while the loan window is open, the players who need to go out to develop leave on loan, and the under-21 numbers dwindle, then we have to provide the best players and the best opportunities for the players we feel deserve to be moving up.
“However, that does give others opportunities as we can then utilise the under-15 and 16 players to bring into our squad, which is great for them.”
