Graham Alexander reckons Motherwell can reap the benefits of pre-season after learning the lessons from their disrupted 2021 programme.
Several Steelmen headed into last season’s Premiership campaign with no summer fitness work under their belt but still they managed to persevere and finish fifth, securing Europa Conference League football.
The 50-year-old fielded several trialists in friendlies as he overhauled his squad, leaving him threadbare by the time the League Cup group stages started at Queen’s Park on July 14.
With 22 senior players already signed up for next term ahead of their second round qualifier on July 21, he reckons they’ll avoid the problems they hit in the New Year with fitness and injuries.
Alexander, whose side head to Austria for a training camp next month, said: “I had a lot of firsts during my first full season. It’s been a big learning curve, with Scottish football and the nuances it can crop up.
“Winning competitive games that early was unusual. There were around 12 players who hadn’t done a pre-season. That sets you up for the rest of the season and it came back to bite us after January, with the fitness levels and injuries we picked up.
“We have a good off-season programme in place and they will get a good amount of rest. We’ll have a good amount of time to get ready for those games.”
A lack of time to prepare for competitive action set Alexander back in terms of building his squad, but he was determined to hold out for the likes of goalkeeper Liam Kelly, who went on to be club Player of the Year.
Recruitment this time around won’t be as frantic.
He added: “Last pre-season was really difficult for us to recruit. We had to do a lot of that last summer. We were determined to sign the right players and not just the ones we could get really quickly.
“You can sign a whole squad in two days but we didn’t want to just do that. We wouldn’t have had people like Liam Kelly if we’d done that. We had to hold our nerve and wait for Liam to drop.
“It was 100 per cent worth it. This year our recruitment doesn’t need to be as widespread as we have a good nucleus. Our recruitment drive isn’t as big and we have longer before our first competitive game.
“That gives us more confidence. We also hope to have guys back from injury in time for pre-season.”
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