LIVE BLOG: FC Halifax Town Q&A with David Bosomworth, Chris Millington and Andy Cooper

Injuries

CM: “We’re always reviewing what’s going on. The second half of the season, we had a real run of bad luck. We had a player fall on Luke Summerielf in training, injuries you couldn’t account for. We looked at are we able to get players back quicker, and the quality of the squad in terms of its depth. When you measure us against our competitors, we fared quite well in terms of games missed by players.”

Triallists

AC: “We’ve had triallists in who haven’t played, some who have made a real impact and signed. That comes through a network of scouts, a recruitment team, Milly, the analyst looking at clips. You want to have a look at them first to see what they can do, what type of person they are and do they fit in.”

DB: “THe game at Colne was part of the Jamie Cooke deal. They wanted to play the game later in pre season whereas we might have looked to have played it right at the start.”

Pre season

AC: “The 2 games in a day is based around getting players 90 minutes. There were logistical issues but the idea was getting players as many minutes as possible. Previous to that it was 60 minutes, 30 minutes or a 45 minute. Based around the testing/physique of a player so we can hit the ground running and beyond. We build it so the players are robust and ready for the season ahead. Most of the work is done with the ball, there isn’t too much isolated running. We’ve had success in managing minutes, getting units and players to gel together, as we progress it goes onto other elements. We had no soft tissue injuries and everyone, bar Kian, is fully fit.”

Shay/council relationship

DB: “The council do have the say about what happens in the stadium. We did have some ballboys, the NL must have seen our match highlights and they said we couldn’t have them. Ball boys and girls will be back this season, like the HT football games are. It’s a difficult discussion to have, the council is strapped for cash, you have the 2 clubs, there has to be compromise where we can. The running costs for the stadium are quite hight, we all have to put in. The cost of everything seems to be rising.”

DB: “When we were planning friendlies there was a hope we might be able to do a pitch refurb (if the club had gone up) for a hybrid pitch. Discussion had gone ahead with all parties with the stadium. Trying to get a financial agreement was difficult, I thought we’d got one but it fell by the way side because it would have stretched us financiall and we didn’t get promoted. That resulted in the refurb being put back 10 days. It seems green anyway! Hopefully some time in the near future. We only have a short window in the summer. It’s a very difficult situation, but that’s why we’ve had an odd pre season. But we will look to put a proper pre season in place next season provided there’s no pitch activity.”

Shay pitch

CM: “There was a challenging period mid season where we had games postponed. For the most part we got through. The important thing is we’re able to maintain a surface and I know Oz and the staff work very hard on that.”

Transfers

CM: “He’s a forward. It isn’t signed and sealed. I was certain another was going to happen, all we needed was a signature but it never materialised. But there is one more we’re interested in. He can play across the front three. Intention of being regular first team player from the off, and we’re excited about having the opportunity of working with him.”

Football management

CM: “What summer?! It’s been great so far. Being already part of the club it was fantastic to know the players and what we need to cope with the size of the pitch. Me and the chairman hadn’t worked together particularly closely, there was a mutual understanding there. The challenging bits have been dealing with recruitment and negotiating contracts. We want to tell players about the club, the fans, the experience they’ll get and our ambitions, to do that we have to sit down with them, so that all takes time. We’re in a healthy place but I’m really looking forward to Saturday.”

DB@ “My middle name is sell on.”