The Motherwell boss discusses his summer transfer business, a short pre-season and trying to navigate a tricky Betfred Cup group.
The Steelmen face Queen of the South on Saturday in the opening match in the four-game group stage.
On the short pre-season break
“We’re back very quickly. You don’t get much of a break now in modern football.
“It’s only been four weeks our boys altogether had off. So we are back at it.
“We’ve enjoyed being back. A lot of new faces. A lot of energy about the place and looking forward to the season.”
On transfer business
“The players might have had four weeks off but myself and Martin Foyle certainly didn’t.
“And that’s the job. You have to get in before people. I believe we’ve done well. we’ve signed a lot of exciting players.
“We’re trying to continue on what we did on the last six months of the season. We’ve signed wide players with pace and energy. I am looking forward to the season.
“I think I am done. I’m knackered. I can’t sign anymore. No, we are very close to being done.
“We still have a little bit left if something came up that suited us, perhaps in the forward area.
“It’s massive. That’s the hard bit. You do lose players. We lost all our wide players So that was the biggest recruitment for us – wide areas. We’ve done that. I believe we’ve done that well.
“Hopefully we will hit the ground running. We did that two years ago when we brought in a lot of bodies.
“They’ve integrated well, all the new boys. What we have is a good base of boys that have been here quite a while. worked under myself and Keith for a long time.
“They keep that atmosphere going, they keep that drive going. They are integrated very, very quickly.
“One of the new boys said he feels like he’s been here a year. That’s a good positive from my mindset.”
On facing Queen of the South
“Cup competitions come so early in pre-season. We are still in the middle of pre-season.
“We’ve been very successful in the last few years. We’ve got to the final and quarter final in this competition.
“It has set us up for relative success. But it is a tough time of year. People are still finding their form and fitness. New players are still coming in and getting integrated.
“But everyone is in the same boat. Queen of the South will be the same as us.
“The astroturf pitch down there, we just have to deal with. We have to go and be positive. Make sure we take the game to them. Press high up the pitch and take the game to them to try get a result.”