Chris Herbert is looking forward to playing at Townfield this weekend, as his ’74 side reached the midway point of their pre-season preparations with a 2-1 away win at Flint Mountain.
After setting a rigorous set of fixtures through pre-season, Herbert spoke about the different challenges his side has faced, as well as his happiness with the progress that has been made.
“We made our schedule extremely tough, and sometimes it can be frustrating when the results are not arriving.”
“The games are all about finding the right shape and right situations in that shape for our players to be best suited [to] it and we feel we now have found our shape and the squad has settled very quickly in to it.”
“We can’t wait to play at home, it’s been a long wait and it will be great to see the fans coming through the gate and watching their team play exciting football as we continue to prepare for a big season where we want to challenge on all fronts.”
“It’s all about pushing on in to that first game of the season now and it’s no secret that we want to do well in the competition [FA Cup].”
“Everything we are doing is gearing ourselves up to that first game of the season against a very strong Stockport Town side.”
After taking over at the back end of last season with relegation already confirmed, the 2024/25 season will be Herbert’s and his coaching team’s first season in charge. As they look to change the fortunes on the pitch, the ’74 boss praised the players attitudes to change on the training pitch.
“The players are loving the training. Reedy and Steve make the sessions very enjoyable and all with a ball, we are working on shape, phases of play and fitness at the same time which we are now starting to see come off in the games.”
“We are a huge threat on set pieces and are always organised and drilled to know what we want to do and mix it up as much as we can, so it is hard for the opposition to work out”.
Since his arrival, Herbert has wasted no time in overhauling the squad, bringing in many new faces whilst retaining key players such as Woolley, Mark Jones and Fenton. Herbert spoke about the current “Boost the Budget” campaign and urged as many fans as possible to contribute as he aims for success in the upcoming season.
“Now is the time where we have to start making sure we can keep the players we have and fit them into our budget.”
“The Boost the Budget is so big for us this season to keep as many of these lads as we possibly can to give us the best opportunity to challenge for promotion.”
“It is a great idea and it really does make the fans a big part as well as being there in the stands. It has worked at other clubs, like Chester FC, extremely well and there is no reason it can’t work at a great club like 1874 Northwich with the support and following that we have.”
“It’s going to be an exciting season and we are all looking forward to it.”
