Pre-Season Training: Season Preparations Get Underway
Nairn County have started their build up to the 2008-09 Highland League campaign. Pre-season training begun on Thursday when the players reported back to Station Park and they followed up that initial session with the first of several double sessions today. The preparations continue with training on Tuesday night and that is the way things are likely to go for the first few weeks as the players gear themselves up for the pre-season friendlies, which begin with a home match against Ross County on July 8. There will then be either two or three weeks - depending on the North of Scotland Cup draw - of
As the players enjoyed a hard-earned lunch break at Station Park after a tough morning of training before another session in the afternoon, Nairn County FC Online took the opportunity to sit down with manager Les Fridge and discuss his plans for the forthcoming campaign.
He said: "Training is going fine so far. It is always the same at this stage where we work on the players' fitness for the next week or so. We have got our friendly games starting quite soon so we are looking to get into the ball work as soon as possible."
The manager is yet to add to his squad from last season as he continues from the rebuilding job he had on his hands this time last year. He is keen to bring in some new players though with the priority being to strengthen the defensive but he would not name
Fridge said: "There are a few boys that I have invited along to training so we will wait and see what happens there. We also have a couple of irons in the fire elsewhere and we have been speaking to a few clubs about players. But at this stage it is just a case of wait and see."
He added: "We are looking to strengthen the defence at the moment and we will then take a look at what else is about. The thing is, there is not a lot about. Any decent player who does become available is being fought over by several clubs. But like I say, we will keep our eyes open and we do have a few things on the go so hopefully we will have a few fresh faces."
Although he is yet to bring in anyone new, the manager did have some good news for anxious supporters regarding the futures of the players currently at the club.
He said: "Fortunately almost everyone who played last year is signed up for the coming season. That is a plus for us but obviously we would like to try to add a few new faces if we can. We will only be missing one person from last year's squad and that is Martin Sanderson who we knew would be leaving at the end of last season."
Last summer marked a real change in direction for the club in terms of recruiting players because of the lack of experienced bodies who were available. As several top performers moved on to pastures, the club brought in a total of 13 new faces over the course of the season, many of whom were relatively unknown at Highland League level but were young, hungry players who had the potential to be developed into first team lynchpins over a period of time. That remains the strategy this summer as Fridge looks to attract experienced but raw talents with the lure of being given a chance to make a name for themselves at Station Park.
He said: "I said last year that we might have go down a different route and take a step back to go forward. It was a case of giving the young players we have in the squad at the moment as much experience as possible. But if you take Shaun Kerr and Stephen Skinner, you are talking about boys who have been full time professionals and already have a lot of experience from that. But like I say, we might have to bring in younger boys but we can complement that with the likes of Brian Macleod, Duncan Jones, Martin MacDonald, Gary Black, Steven Edwards, Willie Barron and John Campbell. But we won't be afraid of playing younger players because they cannot get the experience if you do not let them play.
"We may have to go down that route but it has nothing to do with our own circumstances and we have no problem going out there and buying a player if the right one becomes available. We did it last year when we brought in Gary Black and I think that is a perfect example of that. He came in and did really well at the tail end of last season but the real issue is 'where are the players?' I have been speaking to other managers and we all seem to be having the same problem. And I don't see the point in just signing bodies for the sake of it."
Despite the young age of his squad overall, Fridge was keen to point out that he believes he does have enough experienced players in the ranks without the need to bring in a few battle-hardened veterans. He said: "We have players like Brian Macleod, who has been around the Highland League a very long time, Duncan Jones was skipper of Aberdeen reserves, John Campbell has been about the Highland League for years and was full time at Hibs, Gary Black has been at various clubs, Steven Edwards has been at this club for many-a-year, Neil MacDonald played 27 times in the First Division for Ross County so it's not as if we don't have any experienced players. We have them but they are around about mid-20's age. We don't have an old head as such who is 30-35 but we do have experience."
He said: "I spoke to Iain last night and his circumstances have not changed. He was on loan at Strathspey obviously and we will see whether he will go back there or not but he said he definitely cannot commit to Highland League. I don't know whether he wants to continue at Strathspey because that was still a bit of a treck for him coming through from Aberdeen to Grantown. He has got a lot on in the next couple of weeks so I said I would speak to him after that and see what his situation is.
"Jason Robertson has been working offshore. Again, if he wanted to go back out to Saints then that could be a solution for him. But these are players we would be happy to have in and around our squad and competing for places but due to work commitments they are unavailable and it is a bit like to situation with Martin Sanderson going self-employed. Unfortunately these things happen."
As well as Brooks, the club also loaned Grant Fraser and Callum and Euan Donaldson to Strathspey when they joined the Grantown-based side for the season last summer to gain first team experience to prepare them for life in the Highland League.
Fridge said: "Those three players are back in training with us now and are a part of the squad. We will see how it goes for them during the pre-season training and games and have a look at their situations individually before deciding what way we want to go with each of them for the coming season."
The club announced earlier this month that they have arranged two friendly matches against Ross County on July 8 and then an Aberdeen XI on July 15. And Fridge revealed he has pencilled in another couple of games, the dates of which depend upon the North of Scotland Cup draw. Fridge said: "Obviously we have Aberdeen and Ross County coming here but we've arranged a game with Strathspey and I'm looking to fix up Inverness City from the North Caledonian League. They have come along leaps and bounds over the last few years so that is one to look forward to and I also may be able to get a game against a team from Glasgow who are coming up.
"We were fortunate to have five games last year and we might have the same again but two of them may be on the same weekend and if that happens I will have to split the squad. The reason that might happen is because the North of Scotland Cup first round game is now on the Saturday July 26 when last year it was played on the midweek after which gave us an extra Saturday for friendlies."
And improvement is again the main name of the game for Fridge's side over the next Highland League season, but the boss did conceed that he would like to see the club reclaim their status as the top north club once more. "Basically I'll be looking for us to go along the same sort of lines as last season. I would like us to be the top team in the north and to push into the pack. We got off to a good start last year and had a good finish but we had a poor spell in between and a lot of that I put down to the fact we didn't play for six weeks. We have the exact same squad as last season, bar one, and I would like to think that we could go on and continue what we have been doing. We have a lot of younger boys playing more and more and it is not going to get any easier that's for sure, but we'll keep going on and do what we can."
County start their Highland League season at home to Inverurie Locos on August 2 after defeating the Harlaw Park outfit 2-1 in their final home match of last season. Since then though, Red and Blacks gaffer Dave Cormie has completely revamped his squad. Fridge said: "Our opening game will be very tough and I don't think there is any doubt about that. We can only approach it as best we can with a good pre-season under our belts and take it from there."
Meanwhile, former County skipper John MacAskill has joined local rivals Clachnacuddin. The ex-Ross County man was one of Fridge's first signings when he arrived at Station Park in the summer of 2004. He went on to captain the side to North of Scotland Cup success in October 2005 before opting to take a year-long sabatical last summer. With his Nairn contract at an end, the defender opted to take up the offer of a two-year deal at Grant Street Park.