Aldershot Town manager Tommy Widdrington
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00:00Tommy, firstly how good is it to put this on today for the fans and have them down here for open training?
00:07It's always good when we have a bit of an open training session, it's quite relaxed although there's still content that we're working at regarding the way the teams function and stuff.
00:17But it's a beautiful day so it's nice for the fans to come and sit in the shade actually, not in the sun.
00:24It's been an enjoyable morning and the lads are just going to have a shower now and go down and meet the younger ones down in the fan zone.
00:30So yeah, good day all round.
00:32Hot day but good session?
00:34Yeah, we got what we wanted out of it.
00:36We structure our sessions accordingly in terms of the teams that we're going to play at the end of the week or the middle of the week, whenever that is.
00:44And Thursday is always a bit of a tactical day rather than a hard work day where we put little nuggets of information into the players' minds en masse.
00:52So whoever's picked at the weekend, they'll know exactly how the opposition are going to set up and how we are going to play ourselves.
00:59Obviously with the new influx of players, the first couple of weeks of pre-season and the games that we had, it was about them learning about the way we train and we practice our patterns of play and how we try to create an identity for us.
01:11So that's what we've been doing.
01:13Happy with how pre-season has been going so far?
01:16Yeah, all managers will tell you this, but you don't want to lose games.
01:20But ultimately, you've got to look at where you are as a group and where they are individually.
01:25There's a lot of lads at different stages, whether they've played at the level that we're playing at or certainly the teams we've played against in the last week.
01:33You'll remember Bristol City are a top half on average for the last 10 years, top half of the Championship side.
01:40Birmingham have been a Championship team for as long as I can remember and they've found themselves in League One, unfortunately.
01:46Crawley Town are on an upward curve under Scott Lindsay, who's done a great job there.
01:52I was really pleased with the output of our players.
01:55Too many people will look at scorelines and on one hand think, oh, we've lost to Crawley and on the other hand, oh, but we've beaten Birmingham.
02:03It's not about that, it is about what we get out of it collectively and individually in terms of the fitness.
02:08More importantly, the health of the players, that's what we've got to try and keep as many of them available to me as I can.
02:15That's difficult, the conditions of the weather.
02:18Obviously, the ground conditions are a result of the weather that we have, so the ground's tough.
02:24But we're in the same boat as everybody else.
02:27At this stage of the season, we're as optimistic as anybody.
02:30What I will say is I genuinely believe the group we have are a little bit further ahead of where we were with the group we had last season.
02:37You remember a lot of people were pilloring me and the staff because we signed Josh Stokes and Lauren Tiller.
02:44We all know what they went on to do.
02:46But at this stage of the season, they weren't ripping any trees up, so we're really comfortable with the group.
02:51I think the group are becoming more and more comfortable with us as a staff.
02:55Ultimately, the proof of the pudding is if you ask me ten games into the season, I'll give you a really good idea of where I think we'll be headed.
03:02Are you happy with all the business you've managed to do?
03:06Yeah, I think we did what a lot of teams would like us to have done.
03:08We had a lot of business done early on.
03:10It doesn't mean we won't do one or two more if we can.
03:13But ultimately, as well, one or two of our younger lads, who I don't think are quite ready to start games for us every week, but could easily play at a level down.
03:22Hopefully, we'll find some homes for one or two of them in the next couple of weeks.
03:26Therefore, we might see one or two new faces still.
03:30Obviously, you've been building up the minutes, you've been working on the playing style and everything like that.
03:36It's all coming together now. Obviously, Bromley last season was friendly.
03:40Yeah, we had to have a little re-jig of our schedule because the Birmingham City game came up and Crawley was moved from the Saturday to the Tuesday.
03:49The last eight days in game time, Bristol City, Birmingham and Crawley, and asked for the vast majority of the lads who played in all three games.
03:57We've got to be mindful of that. We're not in competition with them teams.
04:01They were coming here for a training session, it was one of our training sessions.
04:05Usually, I wouldn't have as many games at home, but that opportunity came and I think it's good that the new lads bed in and find the surroundings.
04:12Get used to the place because we don't come here other than for match days.
04:16With our first game being at home, I thought the preparation would be good to have a team that know our division, but also now have done what's required to get out of it.
04:25Andy Woodman and his group at Bromley are probably the best example of that and a really good opposition for our last game.
04:32It's all approaching fast now, just over a week to the big kick-off, Forest Green at home.
04:37I look forward to that and it's an exciting time always this time of year.
04:41Oh yeah, like I said, everybody's filled with optimism.
04:44There will be the odd doom-monger, full of doom, but you can't go through life thinking like that and you've got to have your glass half full.
04:50We certainly do.
04:51I think we can improve on last season in general.
04:54A lot of things were big highlights last season.
04:57We had some really big, momentous games, things happening, scoring a couple of goals in the last minutes, coming back from Goals Behind.
05:04I'm sure things like that will happen again.
05:06What I always say to people is you won't win or lose their league anytime soon, so don't get too up if we do have a really good start.
05:13Don't get too down if we don't have such a good start.
05:15Ultimately, I think everybody behind me and staff-wise, all of the players are just looking forward to Saturday, August 10th, when Forest Green and Rovers come to town.
05:24Obviously, plenty of positives last year with the big FA Cup run, pushing close to the play-offs.
05:29Playing to build on really there, isn't there?
05:31Yeah, at the end of the day, when we came into the club, we were certainly not looking up the way and trying to get out of the division that way.
05:38It was about staying in the division and it had been the case for the last couple of seasons before that.
05:44I don't think anybody's thinking like that, but we've got to be mindful.
05:47That's a flip of a coin away.
05:49Half a dozen injuries or problems, unforeseeable things, can make your season turn around.
05:55We don't look at the negatives.
05:57We try to be positive as much as we can.
05:59Whatever players are available to us, we'll pick the best 11.
06:02We can't start the game and hope that the lads coming from the bench will be able to finish it for us.
06:07They obviously did a lot of business early.
06:09Are you still potentially open for one or two, if the right players come around?
06:13Yeah, 100%.
06:14We still have one or two lads training with us on occasions.
06:17These are lads now who are probably coming down from higher levels and are probably keeping their options open.
06:22Where we are in the food chain, we have to shop at the right supermarkets.
06:26That's the way it is.
06:28I'm not sublime to say that.
06:31What we've got, I really am pleased with.
06:34If they're all fit and well, I think it would be a real challenge for most teams in this division.
06:38As a manager, you always want to push.
06:40You want to try and get a little bit more in, so if one or two do get injured, there's not that excuse to fall back on.
06:47With a bit of luck, we'll persuade one or two people that we might need one or two more players yet.
06:55Just in terms of the strength of the league, I guess 10 games in, we'll probably know how everyone's looking?
07:01Statistically, over the last however many years that football has been played, after 10 games, there generally is a pattern to the way the league will pan out.
07:09There will always be one or two that really drop through the league and one or two that maybe come through with a wet sail at the end.
07:14In general, after about 10 league games, you get a feel for it because you've seen a lot of the opposition.
07:19New ones in the league from below, new ones in the league that have dropped in.
07:23And of course, the lads who have reshuffled like ourselves, who've stayed in this division but had good seasons last season.