Pools boss Craig Hignett is back with another update for fans, reflecting on another busy week and giving an insight in to his current transfer progress.
Hello all and welcome back to my weekly Blog here on the Official Website.
We’ve had another good week here behind the scenes working on making sure everything is in place for next season and we’re making excellent progress.
We’ve done deals to keep Luke Williams and Nicky Featherstone at the Club in to next season and they’re both players I was keen to have around the place because I know they can do good jobs for us next term.
As I said in the interview I did on the website when he signed, Luke had a terrible year last year and I can guarantee you that it was as frustrating for him as it was for me and all the supporters that he wasn’t able to play.
I have known and worked with Luke a long time though and I know that when he’s back firing and fully fit we’ll have the best player in this division on our hands so that is where the focus is now – on ensuring that he is given the platform to get back to his best.
With Nicky, I don’t think it’s a secret that I really rate him as a footballer and I think I got some of his best form out of him when I was Manager last time. He is the kind of player who can dictate games when he’s at his best so I am delighted that he’s sticking around in to 2019/20.
It’s all moving forward at the Club now; we’ve still got two or three more that we would like to bring in to the squad that will change the picture again and, like I have said previously, it might be a case of little steps but we will get to where we want to be.
I do want to freshen the squad up with people who haven’t been here previously and that’s the challenge now. We’ve spoken to lots and lots of players during the course of the summer so far but the hardest part can be getting deals over the line, especially this early on when lots of clubs are after the same players.
All the good players will attract plenty of interest and they will take their time and pick what they feel is the right club for them. We are in a position where we won’t wait too long before we move on and that’s already happened with one or two.
We’re down the line with a couple of things that we’re confident can get tied up next week and then hopefully we will have some more positive news to bring you here on the Official Website.
Meanwhile, I was an interested to watch England play Holland in the Nations League on Thursday night and I agree with most things that have been said about the performance since then.
Plenty of people have already commented that it’s about decision-making not the mere fact that England are trying to play out from the back – I still think that is the right way to go but it’s all about what you do when a team presses you.
If your opposition are letting you have it then it’s fine, but when they’re trying to stop you then you have to find another way of getting out. When you’re playing out from the back, really you’re trying to suck people out to get in behind them or play longer in behind the defence – that’s where the space should be if a team is pressing high and it should suit England with the pace they have in the side.
But decision-making is what cost the team on Thursday. I would never encourage a centre-half to play it in to a midfield man on the edge of his own box when he’s got his back to where he wants to go and he’s under pressure. Those are the times to go further forward to hit a striker or a wide man.
It’s definitely made for good debate since Thursday though, which is what it’s all about – and that’s before we even get started on the way VAR impacted on the game! That’s for another Blog, I think.
I am off to represent the Club at the Annual National League Dinner at Celtic Manor on Saturday night, which should be fun and it’s another chance to catch up with a few people from other clubs too so I am looking forward to it.
Enjoy your weekend.
Craig.