Shrimpers Head Coach Kevin Maher is making sure to keep the bigger picture in his mind ahead of Saturday’s opening Vanarama National League fixture.
It’s an exciting time at Roots Hall, with this game against York City the first of the COSU era, but Maher knows there’s a great deal still to be done.
In his first pre-match interview of 2024/25, he said: “With what’s gone on over the summer, there’s so much optimism around the place, but I think it’s important to remember that it’s about building a football club for the long-term as well as now. So much good work has gone on behind the scenes, but there’s still so much to do.
“You won’t know where you’re at until you kick off, and it’s a long season ahead, so there’ll be many ups and downs. It’s been quite a long off season so everyone’s looking forward to it.”
Maher’s targets are focused on being better than last season and consistently improving. “My thing is to get better every day, and that’s for the players as well.
“We want to keep standards high, work every day, and see where it takes us.”
The boss recognises that the squad is a little short in terms of numbers, and identified the areas that need to be strengthened. “We’ve lost seven players from what we had at the end of last season and we’ve brought in three, so we know we need to bring two or three more in.
“It’s important we get the right ones and we’re looking to do that. It’s obvious that we need competition for Collin and then we need one or two bodies in attacking areas. We’re looking for a level of performance again, which we demand whether it’s the first game or the last game.”
He went on to speak in a bit more depth about the three additions so far. “We’re delighted with Walks, we knew what we’d get with him.
“Joe we’ve had before and he’s had experience of being in the Football League, so that’ll stand him in good stead, and George Wind has played a lot of men’s football coming from a couple of leagues below. Once he settles in he’ll be a great addition for us.”
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With a tifo display ready for the 7,000+ fans at Roots Hall on Saturday, Maher was asked about that brilliant support.
“The fans still turned up last year in their thousands, so it doesn’t surprise me because of how good they are, and our job is always to give them a team to be proud of. It’ll be a special occasion, but my focus is always on football.”
The only two injury concerns are around Adam Crowther and Noor Husin. There was a positive update on the duo. “Adam Crowther’s joined in a bit of training this week and Noor’s done non-contact, so they’re progressing, which is good news.
“There’s every chance that the game will be too soon for them.”
Read more from our Head Coach in Saturday’s matchday programme, priced at £3 and available around Roots Hall.
