COVENTRY City are reporting back for preseason training a week earlier than their rivals in a bid to prepare for the rigours of League One football.
Manager Andy Thorn wants his players both mentally and physically in tune to tackle the challenge ahead, not least the fact that the Sky Blues will be seen as a big scalp in the division.
And the Sky Blues boss is determined to stick to his principles of playing passing football to get out of the third tier and back to the Championship at the first attempt.
“Every game will be a cup tie for the opposition so we need to be mentally strong and we need to be physically strong,“ said Thorn.
“A lot of clubs are not going back until the 9th and that's why we're going back on Sunday 1st. I don't care that it's a Sunday because we will work so hard to play the way we want to play. Because when you are playing football, you are not just passing it about, you have to be really fit.
“So the pre-season will be really tough because that gives you a base to build on. I don't want anyone to miss pre-season because we need to get ready for a whole new start.“
Thorn is particularly eager to draft in new players by the time City start back in order for them to gel with the rest of the team and get used to his style of play.
He added: “I know how I want to play next year and it will be a bit different to how we have been because we have been guided by the players we have had, so it has been difficult to do anything different. But the philosophy of playing football will always be number one.
“I’ll change our shape and hopefully it will give me a start in the pre-season with the fresh players to say this is what we’re doing and this is where our strengths are in this league. To say this is what we need to work on – it’s obvious we need to score more goals than we have before – but I wasn’t able to do that last year.
“I’m just looking forward because I know that if we get who we want to get I know what we can do.
“There’s only one thing that I want at the end of it and that’s promotion. That’s what everything will be geared to.”
Manager Andy Thorn wants his players both mentally and physically in tune to tackle the challenge ahead, not least the fact that the Sky Blues will be seen as a big scalp in the division.
And the Sky Blues boss is determined to stick to his principles of playing passing football to get out of the third tier and back to the Championship at the first attempt.
“Every game will be a cup tie for the opposition so we need to be mentally strong and we need to be physically strong,“ said Thorn.
“A lot of clubs are not going back until the 9th and that's why we're going back on Sunday 1st. I don't care that it's a Sunday because we will work so hard to play the way we want to play. Because when you are playing football, you are not just passing it about, you have to be really fit.
“So the pre-season will be really tough because that gives you a base to build on. I don't want anyone to miss pre-season because we need to get ready for a whole new start.“
Thorn is particularly eager to draft in new players by the time City start back in order for them to gel with the rest of the team and get used to his style of play.
He added: “I know how I want to play next year and it will be a bit different to how we have been because we have been guided by the players we have had, so it has been difficult to do anything different. But the philosophy of playing football will always be number one.
“I’ll change our shape and hopefully it will give me a start in the pre-season with the fresh players to say this is what we’re doing and this is where our strengths are in this league. To say this is what we need to work on – it’s obvious we need to score more goals than we have before – but I wasn’t able to do that last year.
“I’m just looking forward because I know that if we get who we want to get I know what we can do.
“There’s only one thing that I want at the end of it and that’s promotion. That’s what everything will be geared to.”
