This afternoon, we spoke to Mark Hughes for the first time since returning for pre-season.
Speaking to CUTV, he began by speaking on pre-season so far, saying: “I've enjoyed it. Great to see everybody back and obviously some new faces in the group as well, so they've been integrated into the squad very, very quickly. The group's shaping up really well, I like the connections that they're making, obviously that's an important part of it moving forward, so yeah, I've been encouraged by what I've seen.”
Glyn Hodges recently left the club due to family commitments.
“It was a shame for Glyn, but his personal circumstances he felt didn't allow him to continue in the role. It was very difficult with the distances that he was having to travel and the commitment that he needed to make, he was just being honest that he felt he wasn't able to continue in the role, so I respected that.
"We moved quickly and filled that position, really pleased that Frankie [McAvoy] and Gav [Skelton] have come in and they've very, very quickly showing their qualities and they'll be a good addition to the club.
“They're good football people first and foremost and they've been in the game for a long time, know their subject, know what they're talking about, so it'll be good to get new ideas from them and bounce things around in the coaches room, that's a big part of how we operate as a group, so that'll be important for us.
"They've got knowledge of the National League as well, which was a little bit of the thinking behind the appointments as well, so we pretty much ticked every box in terms of those appointments.”
Mark then laughed when reminded of a run-in with Gavin Skelton that he had during his time at Bradford.
“I've had interesting moments with a lot of people in football, it doesn't last very long from my point of view, it's never personal, it's just a spur of the moment thing, so it doesn't linger very long, whereas maybe some people are different but I'm not.”
On how the squad have found pre-season so far, Mark explained: “It's been tough for them as you would imagine, we haven't messed about, we've had some good quality work on the grass already but alongside that you have to have the physical work as well, so they've all come back in great nick which was really important and yeah, from the off they were ready to go.”
Looking ahead to United's first pre-season clash against Motherwell on Tuesday, Mark discussed the possibility of absentees, saying: “Pre-season is difficult to navigate because guys are coming back and you can pick up little niggles, so we've got a couple of those, so a few will miss out on the Motherwell game, Morgan [Feeney], he'll miss that one, he's just got an irritation in his calf.
“Wearney [Stephen Wearne] is tight in his hamstrings, so we're just being a little bit cautious with them all, apart from that it's long-term injuries but we've got a good complement of players, we'll look to give them 45 minutes each if we can, if numbers allow which at the moment it looks like that will be the case, so yeah, I'm looking forward to getting into the games, training's all well and good but you need to get on the pitch and see those patterns performing and presenting themselves and you get a good indication very early on in terms of where everybody is, so in terms of who needs a little bit more, who needs a little bit more technical work, who needs more physical work, it's a case of just seeing where we are.”
Charlie Wyke has been back out on the grass as he recovers from his long-term injury, on the forward, Hughes stated: "That's encouraging, we're trying to bring him on, it's been really frustrating for Charlie but we're moving him along at the correct pace and when he's ready then we'll introduce him, he's not ready to be in the group yet.”
Mark also confirmed that Jude Smith has recently undergone surgery, saying: "He's going to be out for quite a significant period so it's a shame for him.”
When asked where the future lies for Kadeem Harris, Mark explained: “Kadeem is keeping his options open, it's a difficult one from our point of view, obviously, we don't offer Football League football at the moment but he knows the club and he knows our feeling towards him.
"If it doesn't happen, he's a player that we enjoyed working with but clearly at this time of the year there's no rush sometimes from players' points of view, they want to keep their options open and we fully respect that.”
On more transfer business, the Blues' Head Coach said: “We're still active, I don't anticipate there'll be too many more in terms of numbers but we'll strive to get the best quality we can.”
Finally, speaking on fixtures which are released next Wednesday, he said: "I think everybody looks forward to the fixtures coming out, you like to plan your year according to where the locations are, it's going to be a lot of travelling for everybody but I think we're ready to embrace that and yeah, see where the first journey takes us but it's going to be a long hard season, we all understand that travelling wise.
"We'll make sure we prepare correctly and then any impact in terms of mileage doesn't really affect you if you prepare correctly.”
