Calum provides an update on pre-season, recruitment and our trip to Northern Ireland

Chester FC boss Calum McIntyre would like to provide supporters with the following update, regarding preparations for 25/26, recruitment and this weekend’s trip to Northern Ireland.

“The next 16 days are where pre-season will really intensify for us and where things will really take shape. Friendlies are what friendlies are, you want to win them but they are fundamentally competitive training exercises.

“We’ve used the early games to get minutes into players, have a look at some trialists and to be in some different environments. In the ideal world, every single friendly would be behind closed doors, the same way training is, however it has been great to visit three really good clubs and get back to the Deva last weekend against Salford. Whereas the focus has been on individuals in the first few weeks, attention now needs to turn to what we look like as a group and putting some detail into what we do.

“The first part of this is our trip to Northern Ireland. The importance of having the players together for 24 hours a day for 4 days cannot be understated. We’ve put a lot of time into making sure we get everything we want from the few days, on and off the pitch. We will train twice with a lot of unit work, breaking down roles and responsibilities and start introducing some work around restarts.

“The plan will be to be a more cohesive unit on Saturday against Glentoran. We are really looking forward to the game and the opportunity to play in an entirely different setting. We’re really grateful to our hosts and look forward to meeting them on Saturday.

“There’s a lot of work with the group off the pitch that makes a massive difference on it. We’ve got a lot planned that hammers home who we are as a group. The word ‘culture’ has become entirely overused in football but for me it’s important that the entire group, players and staff are clear on what our environment is, who we need to be in that and behaviours we have to show.

“Away from training, we have some stuff lined up to help develop relationships around the group and to allow the group to know each other a little better while spending a lot of time together.

“We’re really looking forward to it and we felt it would be an important part of our pre-season preparations. We are really grateful to those supporters who are travelling over to support the lads on Saturday and I hope they have a great weekend. Part of trips like this and the Isle of Man last year is about doing something different for our supporters and I hope they take the opportunity to have a great time watching us in an entirely different setting. I’ve talked a lot about the connection between the team and the supporters and it’s as strong as it’s ever been in my time at the club. Everyone genuinely looks forward to seeing the travelling Seals on Saturday afternoon.

“Nothing has changed around recruitment for us. We still want to add two to the group and we will make sure they are the right fit for us. Don’t worry about what anyone else is doing, we will keep doing what’s right for us as and when it happens.”

We all look forward to seeing you in Belfast. UTS!