News

Manager Jim McIntyre is delighted with the way the squad is shaping up as the countdown to our first season competing in the Championship continues.

He said: “The value of the work done in pre-season can’t be underestimated.

“It has been more difficult for players ahead of the last couple of seasons because of Covid, which meant them having to train in smaller groups, or often on their own.

“That’s why it has been great to see them all back together, working hard for each other and encouraging each other as they top up their fitness levels.

“Like every other manager, my biggest hope is that we can also come through this period without any injuries, that is a key thing about pre-season.

“It’s rare to not have any injuries at all, but as long as we come out at the end of it with everyone raring to go when the Championship campaign starts I will be very happy.

“The players returning from their summer break in great shape has been a huge help.

“Most modern day players tend to do that because their clubs give them fitness programmes to follow during their summer break.

“It’s a credit to the lads at Cove that they came back in such good shape they have been able to deal with the training sessions so far in a very impressive manner.

“I was also delighted with the fitness levels they showed when we played Dunfermline last weekend.

“Dunfermline are full-time and had been back in training for 10 days.

“That’s a lot of sessions, while most of our lads had trained just twice and that showed in the latter stages of the game, which you would expect.

“But the boys stuck at it and starting with a shift as hard as that was will do them the world of good.”

This is Jim’s first time managing part-time players and he has appreciated the help he has received so far from the coaching staff who were already at the club when he took over – fitness coach Tam Ritchie, goalkeeping coach Derek Soutar, first team coach Gary Hake and performance analyst Ryan Docherty.

Jim said: “They have been invaluable, even more so because I’ve come in at a late stage as far as building up to a new season is concerned.

“It’s good to have people at the club who already know the players and how we can make the best of the time we have to work with them.

“I knew of Tam from his time with Hearts and I played against Derek over the years, so it’s not as if they were total strangers.

“Tam is well known in the game, so I was aware of how professional and good at his job he is.

“Having now worked with him I have to say I have been really impressed at just how good Tam is at what he does.

“It’s been the same with the rest of the staff, you can see why Cove were able to do as well as they did last season.

“One of the first jobs I had was to make them feel relaxed and to underline how much I was looking forward to working with them and I’m pleased that has gone so well.”

The countdown continues with a friendly against Lowland League Gala Fairydean Rovers at Balmoral Stadium on Saturday, 1pm kick-off.

We also visit Premiership St Johnstone the following Saturday (1pm) and Jim admitted our Premier Sports League Cup group games – against Albion Rovers, Livingston, Kelty Hearts and Inverness Caledonian Thistle – will also be used to prepare the players for our Championship opener, against Raith Rovers on July 30.

He said: “You want to do as well as you can in every competition, but the League Cup ties are viewed as ones that are used to build-up fitness levels.

“A lot of clubs view them in that way, although they are competitive so are far better than having to organise more friendlies.

“I’m happy with the balance of friendly and competitive matches that we have and confident we will be ready to go by the time that league opener arrives.”

Jim also plans to strengthen the squad ahead of the season.

He said: “We have a small squad, so need to add to it.

“That will happen in the coming weeks, although I must emphasise I will only bring in players who can bring something different to the excellent squad that we already have.

“We might have to be patient to get the right players, things tend to pick up once we are into July.

“But I’m happy to wait to ensure we get the right people in the door.”

Article Copyright © 2022. Permission to use quotations from this article online is only granted subject to appropriate source credit and hyperlink to www.coverangersfc.com

McDonagh Arrives at Balmoral »