SlowerThanPlatt
Well-Known Member
Coventry City manager Tony Mowbray
Tony Mowbray admits he’s unlikely to have his final Coventry City squad in place until well into the pre-season programme.
The Sky Blues boss is busy trying to line up deals to expand his slimline group which, in keeping with last season, will be topped up with several loan signings.
But the nature of loan agreements from predominantly Premier League and the odd Championship club means Mowbray probably won’t get his hands on his targets until their parent managers decide to let them go out.
“Ideally you want players in position come July 1 when they report back for pre-season training so you have got your squad,” said the City boss.
“And yet, realistically, you think about building a team and we’ve talked about how important loans will be. We can’t bring in ten players that we sign so loans are very important and they’ll come a bit later because clubs, generally, like to have a look at them over the summer.
“Some will go on pre-season tour with their clubs and some won’t. They might play some Under-21 games and the manager might decide he’s covered in that department so he’ll send him out on loan, but it’s likely to be a good few weeks after they come back before we can get hold of them.
“And if we are going to have four or five of them then you take them out of the squad for the first few weeks of pre-season and it becomes quite a light squad. Some of our main players were loan players last year.”
Mowbray has already stated he’s keen to re-sign centre-back Matthew Pennington from Everton, midfielder Grant Ward from Tottenham and striker Dominic Samuel from Reading, although Ward is expected to have plenty of offers from elsewhere to play at a higher level while Samuel is likely to be given a chance to establish himself at the Madejski Stadium.
As for permanent signings, the club have opened negotiations with Reda Johnson, Marcus Tudgay, Chris Stokes and Ivor Lawton regarding new deals and Mowbray has spoken to several agents about new players he’s targeted.
But as the manager has already pointed out, it’s a bit of a waiting game as players and clubs try to get the best possible deals in the market.
And while it suits both club and players to be signed up in time for the start of pre-season training, Mowbray admits: “Some will try to shuffle their cards too much and the one the club they want never comes and then they start going back and that puts pressure on them to make a decision.“
Tony Mowbray admits he’s unlikely to have his final Coventry City squad in place until well into the pre-season programme.
The Sky Blues boss is busy trying to line up deals to expand his slimline group which, in keeping with last season, will be topped up with several loan signings.
But the nature of loan agreements from predominantly Premier League and the odd Championship club means Mowbray probably won’t get his hands on his targets until their parent managers decide to let them go out.
“Ideally you want players in position come July 1 when they report back for pre-season training so you have got your squad,” said the City boss.
“And yet, realistically, you think about building a team and we’ve talked about how important loans will be. We can’t bring in ten players that we sign so loans are very important and they’ll come a bit later because clubs, generally, like to have a look at them over the summer.
“Some will go on pre-season tour with their clubs and some won’t. They might play some Under-21 games and the manager might decide he’s covered in that department so he’ll send him out on loan, but it’s likely to be a good few weeks after they come back before we can get hold of them.
“And if we are going to have four or five of them then you take them out of the squad for the first few weeks of pre-season and it becomes quite a light squad. Some of our main players were loan players last year.”
Mowbray has already stated he’s keen to re-sign centre-back Matthew Pennington from Everton, midfielder Grant Ward from Tottenham and striker Dominic Samuel from Reading, although Ward is expected to have plenty of offers from elsewhere to play at a higher level while Samuel is likely to be given a chance to establish himself at the Madejski Stadium.
As for permanent signings, the club have opened negotiations with Reda Johnson, Marcus Tudgay, Chris Stokes and Ivor Lawton regarding new deals and Mowbray has spoken to several agents about new players he’s targeted.
But as the manager has already pointed out, it’s a bit of a waiting game as players and clubs try to get the best possible deals in the market.
And while it suits both club and players to be signed up in time for the start of pre-season training, Mowbray admits: “Some will try to shuffle their cards too much and the one the club they want never comes and then they start going back and that puts pressure on them to make a decision.“
