Defender Morgan Feeney put pen-to-paper on a new deal last Monday with the centre back now ready to kick on having joined the Blues at the end of the winter transfer window.
His contract keeps him at the club until next summer, with an option to take that on for another year should things go as expected.
Speaking about the agreement last week, he told us: “I was delighted that we were able to get it done. The manager and David [Holdsworth] have been brilliant with me in that sense.
“They could have let me walk out the door, but they believed in me. I’m grateful also because I didn’t want to leave having not left my mark on the club. Next season hopefully I can really show what I’m about and stamp my authority on the pitch.
“I’m at a stage and an age where I’m definitely ready to kick on. I’m a bit like a coiled spring at the minute – I’m just desperate to play, desperate to get out there and kickstart my career in the professional game. That’s what I’m here to do.”
“I’m just really happy that I’ll be here next season because it’s a good club,” he added. “When I picked up the foot injury it obviously went through my head that I was only on a short-term deal at the time, but I don’t really tend to dwell on things.
“I only do what I can do in that situation and that’s try and get fit and strong and into the best place I can. Things like that I can’t really control. I’m injured, my deal’s running out – in that situation all I can do is get fit, strong and get back on the pitch. That’s what I tried to do, and a new deal came which I’m very grateful for.”
Having been with the club for just over four months now, he commented: “I’ve loved my time here. The lads, the staff, the environment’s brilliant. It’s a proper football club.
“I haven’t been able to play much, but I’ve watched nearly every game from when I arrived. We’ve got a very good group. We had a bit of a tough period with the Covid and a couple of the lads struggling with that, so it became a bit of a tough run-in.
“But we’ve already got a really good squad and foundations to kick on and do well in the league next year. And a bonus for us all is that we should see fans back after the summer, hopefully at some point anyway.
“That would be brilliant. Hopefully next season there’ll be no restrictions. It would be brilliant to get on the pitch for the first time when fans are there to cheer us on. You couldn’t write that really. I’m looking forward to that.
“Even the friendlies, pre-season’s brilliant for whetting the appetite. You do your tough running and work, the games come thick and fast and the friendlies really prepare you for the tough fixtures in a season.
“I look at the friendlies and hope to play in every one of them, but you don’t know, there might be a lot of rotation. But any opportunity I get to play I’ll hope to do well and prove what I’m about.”
And on his overall aims for next season, he said: “I set a long-term target for the season for myself and in the mean-time you give yourself shorter goals. I always set myself little goals.
“I think for me next season it’s just to play as many games as possible, get a little run in and make sure I’m physically alright, staying on top of things, get a run in the side hopefully and show what I’m about and what I can bring to the team.”
