Boss Steve Roberts keen to get Pickering Town players ready for return

Pickering Town boss Steve Roberts is chomping at the bit to get the team ready for when non-league football returns.
Pickering Town boss Steve Roberts, right, and his assistant Tony HackworthPickering Town boss Steve Roberts, right, and his assistant Tony Hackworth
Pickering Town boss Steve Roberts, right, and his assistant Tony Hackworth

Preparations had already begun for pre-season before the Covid-19 outbreak, with discussions having already taken place with a number of clubs regarding friendlies but with no start date for the season nothing can be finalised yet.

Former Scarborough Athletic coach Roberts, and his assistant, ex-Scarborough FC and Boro ace Tony Hackworth, are aiming to get the players back training in small groups of five players, possibly over different nights, but is confident that most of the players will have kept themselves in shape.

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Looking ahead to the new season and his targets, Roberts, during an interview on the club's official website, said: “We need to improve our goals against record, but at the same time score more goals, so strengthening in all departments is required and if possible to add a bit more experience and leadership to the squad.

“My aims for the season would be at least a mid-table finish and for us to establish ourselves at this level without the struggle we have had for the first two seasons.”

Roberts also explained he is in no rush to announce to many new signings.

He added: “I see no need to rush into anything, none of us have any idea of when things might get underway again.

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“I have had provisional discussions with players and invited them to training, for when we do get a start, so I am quite relaxed about it and feel things will fit into place when the time is right.”

Roberts also admitted the club’s geographic location does not help their chances of recruiting players.

He said:“It certainly doesn’t help as the bigger conurbations where players tend to reside have many more teams to choose from and of course our budget reflects the size of club we are, so we have to be clever in our thinking.”

The former Cayton Corinthians and Ayton ace also feels that loan players are useful, especially those on long-term deals.

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He added: "Loan players have their place, I am not a particular fan of short term loans, but have seen how a season long loan or even half a season, can help both the player and the club, creating a good working relationship with a particular club can also help matters when it comes to getting the right kind of player on loan."

The boss also admits that he and Hackworth still need to work on rebuilding the confidence of Town's players.

Roberts said: "We already knew that we needed to strengthen and certainly in some games we saw a vast improvement but what became obvious to both Tony and I, was that confidence levels were very low and if we conceded a goal you could visibly see the heads of players drop, so that is something that we must rectify for the coming season."