Four weeks in to pre-season, four new signings confirmed. I sat down with First Team manager Chris Hames to discuss everything that’s been going on and get an idea of how our Tigresses are shaping up going in to the pre-season fixtures and the season itself
Chris, how is pre-season treating everyone? Happy with where you are at?
Yeah, preseason is always a funny one. So much to plan for and towards, but also so many unknowns – particularly for a club like us – but we are very happy with where we sit right now.
A tone has been set by everyone, staff and players, that has just been exceptional. The new faces that have joined, or yet to be confirmed, have fit in really well, and we are a lot more clear with what we are working towards than this time last year.
You look happy, the smile across your face – I can’t say we saw much of that towards the end of last season
[Ha ha] If I can’t be happy with how training has been, how the attitude and environment has been up to this point, then I really am in the wrong role. I’m old enough and scarred enough to know that it isn’t a linear path, but right now it really is putting a big grin on my face every session
Of course, coming in to pre-season what was the focus, has that changed?
I felt we finished last season looking like the club we had been the two years prior, we were competitive and fought for every part of every game – it has been essential we maintained and built on that. Don’t get me wrong, we all needed a break too. It was about assessing how we returned, but it does feel like a fresh start and a weight lifted for everyone from where we were at. In terms of focus, we then had to make sure we had real clarity around how we get to those levels we found in March and April, in to the start of this season. New players, new staff all on the same page early
We need to be more progressive on both sides of the ball. Yes we have a steeliness that has to remain, making life difficult for everyone else is essential and a character trait that we pride ourselves on. But we need to do better to create these moments – whether that is in how we press, counterpress, block etc – or in how we play the game. We want to create more, put more on for our forwards to feed off and build the expectation we have around each phase of the game
I had to learn a lot last year in how the game is at this level, the knowledge and variability of the opposition is just fantastic. We need to be more like that, to be able to adapt more freely in game to be less rigid and just attack and defend with more clarity on principles over anything else
We’ve talked about new faces, players and staff, how has everyone settled?
Look, we had incredible success with a set of brilliant people over the last three years. We have loved our little family and our familiarity without much change, but the opportunity has been presented to us to freshen things up – on and off the pitch – and that brings its benefits too.
The most important aspect has been making sure they’re not just good footballers, but the right people to add into the environment we have built here. Nico [Erin Nicholson] and Gatty [Alex Gatt] on day one were like they belonged if we are honest. Jess [Holder] knew a few of the girls prior and it has shown how well she has settled, we can see the hunger in her too to get going and be challenged at this level and Darcie [Sugden-Brook] knows the group and has slotted straight back in
I am excited by the talent in this group, but with that comes a real test of myself (and the rest of the staff) that we continue to maximise what we have. Talent still has to be joined by hard work
Fixtures came out last week, always an exciting moment – does this bring up anything specific to look forward to?
Yeah, it’s all a much of muchness to be honest. We have to play everyone, home and away, but we all get excited to see the order nonetheless. Plenty still to do, we haven’t kicked a ball in a game yet, we are trying something this year by back loading the pre-season with tough games – everyone is looking forward to these now. We will know more after each of them.
Still a few new faces to confirm and make official, which will be nice as they have already added a lot in to what we are doing. Then we just have to pull everything together, I don’t think theres a perfect method or blueprint for this – we are discovering things every day and probably will do right up to game day one. Again it is about setting tone
A new home for this season, back this side of the bridge
Yeah, we have played out of Ferriby a couple of times in the last couple of years, and have very much enjoyed our time there. With it also comes the challenge of playing in front of, hopefully, bigger crowds and on a big pitch. We need to make sure we are performing to the level that matches that and turns it in to our strength. But we couldn’t be happier with our new home
Also a quick word on the new Development team
Huge credit to Mike [Welsh, Pathway manager]. He has managed to turn a situation around where we couldn’t get a team together last year to having a highly competitive trial process and a new development team confirmed, with Head coach recruited. It’s essential we have a thriving development side, we struggled without one last year and could feel the impact. We have already benefited from it, with a couple of the girls already stepping up in to first team training and adding a lot to what we have done
I am excited, there is some real talent, local talent, that will be filling the side out and that is so key for us as a football club
There you go, a brief chat with Chris around pre-season so far and where we sit mid-July.