Mark McGhee got his first look at his players as they returned to pre-season training.

Mark and assistant manager Scott Leitch spoke to the squad at length this morning, they then took the players out for a light training session. The players returned to Pittodrie for a spot of lunch before heading out again this afternoon.

In between today's training sessions Mark took time out to speak with RedTV.

"I addressed the players this morning. I spoke to them about what I was hoping to bring here, what I expected from them, we talked about pre-season, we talked our first games, we talked about all the aspects we have to cover as a new management team, discipline, all of that. There is a lot more we will cover as we go on. I felt we had a very positive meeting and I think on the training ground we saw smiling faces, we saw enthusiasm and I think we had a positive reaction.

"We will do some endurance work, most of the work they will get is to help improve their fitness, their sharpness will come from dynamic interval work, explosive work which will also be with footballs, it will not just be running around in circles. It will be a hard pre-season for the players. They will be tired. When we go to Austria we will be training three times a day. We will be training next week in Aberdeen at 7 in the morning. The boys are going to be working very hard.

RedTV - to see footage from Mark's first training session please click here

RedImages - to see photos from training today please click here

Mark then gave an update on the latest transfer news. "We are further forward but I am not about to sign someone. We are talking to people and talking to managers, agents and eventually we will sign some players. The important thing is that they are good players and improve the team, not the squad. I do not want to improve the bench I want to improve the team and to do that I have to buy or find players better than the ones I already have. We have some good players here so that is not easy.

"Stephen Hughes and Jim Paterson are players we are interested in and they are the only two players that we are actively trying to bring in at the moment.

With Scott Severin joining Watford last week the management team will have to appoint a new captain. Although the role of skipper is a position Mark sees as being very important, he will take his time before making a final decision on who should wear the captain's armband. "The next captain will be in place for the Celtic game. Between now and then I might play about with it a bit. Once I get to know them I can better assess who should be captain. I think the captain is a very important role. He is a voice out there and a policeman in the dressing room who has got to have some strength about him to boss his team mates, control his team mates to a certain extent; he is the communication between me and the players at times. He is a very important person within the club."

To listen to the full interview with Mark on RedTV please click here.

Jamie Langfield also spoke to RedTV at lunchtime.

"It is nice to be back and I am look forward to the season ahead. It was great to hear the manager speak this morning. I was very very impressed with him.

"He spoke to us as a squad as a whole and told us how he wants us to be during pre-season, how he wants us to go into the start of the season, what it is going to be like over in Austria, his training methods. He spoke really well."

To listen to the full interview with Jamie on RedTV please click here  

Other links

First team and U19 pre-season fixtures please click here

RedTV U19 Preview - Interview with Neil Cooper please click here

Irish Connections - U19s new signing please click here

The U19s new signings please click here