Adams Pleased With Pre-Season Progress

Rugby Town manager Carl Adams is happy with the progress made in the opening three weeks in his new role.

Adams reflected: "I'm very pleased with how player recruitment has gone so far.

"I said when I joined the plan was to get five or six quality players in straightaway and then others will follow when they see what we are building here - and that is how it appears to be going."

The new boss did strike a note of caution though. He added: "Whilst all these players have agreed to join in principle, it's almost inevitable that two or three may go elsewhere before the start of the season - but we will be prepared for this and I'm confident we will be able to replace them late in the day if this happens."

"Things are still ongoing of course and I'm meeting another potential quality recruit this week to try and persuade him to come here."

"It speaks volumes that players are willing to drop down two levels in some cases to play for the club and for me too, and as things stand I believe that we already have a good nucleus to build from."

Ex-Valley favourite Richard Blythe joined striker Michael Taylor and defenders Liam Francis and Luke Edwards in agreeing to be part of Adams's 2018/19 squad - taking the player total doing so to ten following last week's initial influx.

Taylor and Francis are two more of Adams's regulars from his 2017/18 Stratford side where they will join up with Loyiso Recci, Lee Thomas Simeon Tulloch and new assistant manager Justin Marsden, whilst the experienced Edwards has recently had spells with Bromsgrove and Coleshill, who were both promoted from the MFL Premier Division last season.

Adams also confirmed that offers were made to some of Rugby's squad from last season, but it was looking increasingly likely that it would be a total change round come the start of the new campaign in August.

He explained: "We put forward what I considered to be good offers to a number of key members of the last year's team, but unfortunately some of the things we were asking them to sign up to weren't acceptable to them, so we have had to look elsewhere.

"To be successful and win leagues there are certain things I need my players to commit to throughout the season, and that is how I have always built my squads."

Adams's words appear to therefore mark the end for now of David Kolodynski's Valley career, after the 29 year old had racked up club records for both goals and appearances in his three spells at Butlin Road.

Adams continued: "To be honest It's no bad thing in these circumstances to have a clean sweep of players, although having said that I would still like to keep two or three of the younger lads from last year involved if I can."

The recent announcement that Town will switch over to the United Counties League Premier Division from the Midland Football League equivalent has also impacted upon Adams's recruitment strategy and general thoughts for the new season.

He said: "We'd been mainly targeting players from the West Midlands areas, but we will need to look at options from further east now.

"I personally have not had much experience of this league or the teams in it, but from what everyone is telling me, it could be a good move for us. The Midlands League is a strong league with six or seven clubs potentially with big budgets and able to win it.

"I'm happy that I have been given the resources to be more than competitive in this new division and really want to get out of it at the first time of asking."

Adams concluded by looking forward to the opportunity of working alongside his recently appointed right hand man Marsden. He explained: "I was starting to bounce ideas off Justin towards the end of last season and he'd expressed an interest in making a first move into coaching and management.

"He has a wealth of experience of non-league football, and also of this club and the area in particular, so he's really up for the challenge.

"He's always been a good trainer and he will help me work the lads hard. It's certainly going to be a sharp learning curve for him having to deal with things from a different perspective, but I'm sure he will make the transition successfully.

"He's still an important part of my plans on the pitch too. He was one of my best players last season when I played him in a central midfield position or off the front two, and I expect him to make a similarly effective contribution in games again this time round."