The Manager, Mark, Jonny and Willo on RedTV
Saturday 21st June | St Patricks v Aberdeen | Richmond Park Stadium, Inchicore, Dublin, KO 4.00pm.
The club held a pre-season media day at the clubs training camp in Enfield, Co Meath.
Manager Derek McInnes spoke to Dave Galloway for RedTV and the gaffer started off by giving an update on how pre-season training was going in Ireland.
“With a European game coming up in a couple of weeks everything has to be fine-tuned towards that. Pre-season is an important period anyway though. It is an opportunity to get the new players integrated into the squad but the most important thing is to get the players fit for the forthcoming season.
“I thought there might be a bit of doom and gloom amongst the boys because we came back early but there is no sign of that. Their attitude has been absolutely fantastic to their work and the enthusiasm has been brilliant. It just feels as if we have picked up from where we left off last season.
“All players dread pre-season but it is a good feeling when they come through it feeling fit. All the hard work is worth wide.
“There are no trialists over here. I don’t like speaking about speculation and speaking about individuals. I was asked about Kris Boyd and only spoke about it because Kris had mentioned it. He is still on holiday. We are not just concentrating on one player as you would expect. We have let three strikers leave (Calvin, Josh and Scott) so it is an area we are looking at. It would be silly of me to comment on every bit of speculation as more often than not there is nothing in it.
“A few boys are going to be unavailable for tomorrow.
“Clark Robertson is over here with us and doing some work with the physio’s but he is still a good bit away. Nicky Low has been doing some training but cannot take part in any contact sessions yet. His broken toe is still a bit tender. Russell Anderson has slight swelling in his knee so those three boys have not participated as much as others. We still feel we have a strong squad over here and we also took out U20 players Michael Rose and Scott Wright as well as Lawrence Shankland and Craig Storie to strengthen it further. Although the squad is a bit lighter in terms of experience there is still a lot of quality in there. The young ones have come in and done very well.
“Ash Taylor will meet up with the team this weekend. Niall joined up yesterday so there is not a need to rush out and buy any more new recruits.
“The game tomorrow against St Partick’s Athletic is all about fitness. Of course you want to win every game but if we come through the game without any injuries and with all the boys having got some match time under their belts then I will be happy. That is the most important thing – to get some minutes into them.
“We are up against good opposition, especially at this stage of pre-season. They won the Irish League and they are in the Champions League qualifiers. They have a lot of players who clubs in England and Scotland have looked at so they will give us a very tough game.”
RedTV |
The Manager’s Interview in full please click here
Mark Reynolds Interview please click here
Jonny Hayes Interview please click here
Willo Flood Interview please click here
