The 2012-13 preparations continue this week as the Cherries have their first friendly on Wednesday night at New Milton (Kick Off 7.45 pm), before jetting off for a training camp in Spain.
Manager Paul Groves has been pleased with the early days of pre-season, and believes that the strong work ethic being shown can help build the firm foundations needed for the long campaign ahead.
“When you look at pre-season, it’s there to get players fit and the players have come back looking fresh, which is what you want. They are hungry to play, train and improve as individuals, which is key from a team aspect. They have been very professional in their approach, and that is something we want to do in everything that we do. We start as we mean to go on and we are making sure that everything runs as professionally and smoothly as possible. I’m sure there will be one or two hiccups on the way, but pre-season is the time for that, and we can build foundations and put across consistent messages in everything that we do.”
The Cherries have already signed four players this summer, and Groves revealed that the search for personnel is yet to be concluded.
“We are still looking and we will keep pushing to get the right people. We have identified one of the players that we’d like to do something with, we’ll just have to wait and see. We have a few things we need to deal with first, but it is going in the right direction.”