Notts County manager Luke Williams believes he is in a much better position now to introduce new players into his system after using the first year to lay the groundwork for his coaching philosophy.
As the Magpies begin to prepare for life back in the Football League, Williams has retained key figures from the promotion season as well as adding four new faces including the high-profile return of David McGoldrick, who scored 25 goals in the division above last term.
No matter the quality of the signings, there is always the initial challenge of integrating them into the team and the system, but Williams takes confidence from the time he has had at the club to establish his philosophy of preparation and playing which has been fed through the pre-existing team.
He said: “I think it’s true that it takes players time to adapt to some of the things I like to see and some that I don’t like, but I think that is true of most managers. Some systems are easier to learn, some are more difficult but I think they adapted very well in the end [last season].
“We saw that when we brought players with huge quality in like John Bostock and Jodi Jones that they still took some time to adapt. Now I think we have a great beginning because many of the players have experienced already what we’re going to try to do as well as the staff.
“Hopefully that means we can speed up the process because already I’m hearing [retained] players speaking to new players about what to expect and that is brilliant. With certain players, we don’t always see what they add to the group away from the games, and on a day-to-day basis, not only are these guys brilliant players, but they’re brilliant communicators and teammates.”
In terms of squad depth for the new season, there is the challenge of finding the perfect balance between having enough bodies and versatility to cope with issues that pop up mid-season and making sure the squad is not bloated with players who do not feature enough.
This summer, Williams knows his squad better than before and can judge with more confidence exactly what it needs while not having to worry about convincing his playing squad and staff that what he is doing is right.
The County boss added: “We don’t want to have players that are spending long periods not being involved, because that is awful for an individual and it’s terrible for the atmosphere of the squad because it’s hard for these players to keep their levels high.
“We don’t want too many but too few is also dangerous, so having versatile players is important because it means we can move the pack around. There is also a balance required in this scenario when you’re aiming for the perfect number of players.
“I had a big job when I first came in to convince the players and staff of my methods, the way I wanted to do things and what I wanted to try and achieve, but now we should be well in front of where we were because the staff are more capable in delivering my message as are the players that were here already.”
