Warrington Rylands boss David McNabb has discussed their pre-season preparations and thoughts ahead of the upcoming season.
The Rylands boss has been at the helm for a number of the high points that the club have enjoyed with the latest instalment coming last season as they won the league on the final day to secure another promotion.
But the rest didn’t stop over the course of the close season for McNabb as the club embarked on a busy period of signings as Aaron Morris, Josh Langley, James Barrigan, last season’s Northern Premier League West top goalscorer Ryan Brooke and Jak McCourt signed. Earlier this week, they confirmed the capture of Kyle Hayde from Tranmere Rovers and Sam Tickle on loan from Wigan Athletic.
Despite their pre-season results, McNabb insists the preparations for the new season have been good.
He told Off The Park: “It’s been good. There’s been some performances that have been really really good, we’ve got a lot of business done early on which we were really happy with.
“As you’d expect in pre-season there’s a few poor results and some poor performances that make you think and reevaluate things but overall we’re in a fairly good place going into the last few weeks.
“With Aaron Morris, he’s a bit of a Rolls Royce of a defender, he’s quick, athletic, good on the ball and I think he’ll help us play the way we want to play. Josh Langley is similar, he’s played a lot higher, really good on the ball, aggressive, good in the air and I think he’ll fit right in.
“James Barrigan, we know a lot about him – played against him at Marine – his work rate, the second balls that he picks up and wins is massive and he’s also a lot better in possession than people give him credit for. I think the way Marine played last year was a little bit longer than what we want to play but Baz has the capability, he’s a good fit for us.
“Ryan Brooke his goals speak volumes, 25-26 goals last season we’re hoping he can replicate that. It’s probably one area of the pitch where didn’t have an out-and-out number nine, an old-school number nine so Ryan fits that bit.
“Obviously, Jak McCourt adds real quality and bite into the midfield, Jak’s got bags of experience in League 2, the league and in the Conference more recently with Chesterfield so he adds massive amounts of quality, he’s a great lad and fitted in well.
“There will be some more movement late on, we tried to do our business early but we always knew players would drop out or become available from different teams as pre-season progresses, obviously you carry a few more players than what you want for the season during pre-season.
“So we’re hoping to do some more business in the coming days (since the interview, Rylands have added Kyle Hayde – signing from Tranmere Rovers for an undisclosed fee and Sam Tickle on loan until January from Wigan).
“I don’t think it’s expectations, we want to go in there and take each game as it comes – it’s a bit of a cliche but there’s certainly no expectations from the club in terms of where they want to finish, we want to establish ourselves and become a team that’s recognisable at this level.
“So it’s let’s try and enjoy it, it’s a big step up, a very tough league, it’s relentless, Saturday/Tuesday no easy game so just looking forward to it more than anything.”
Warrington Rylands begin their campaign at home to Gainsborough Trinity on August 13.
[Featured image: Warrington Rylands – Mark Percy]
