Paul Cook sat down with the press on Friday morning, reflecting on pre-season and looking ahead to the opening fixture of the 2026/27 campaign against Fleetwood Town in round one of the Carabao Cup.
After a busy summer in the transfer market, Cook’s men will look to continue their strong work during July and early August and embed the new faces into positive performances on matchday.
Looking at the transfer window so far, he discussed the focus of this summer’s recruitment, saying: “We wanted to have a more athletic team, we want to look to run forward and play forward more.
“With everyone up and running as we go to Fleetwood tomorrow, it will be good to have football back and hopefully we can get through the tie.
“Things are still moving and there could be some more signings that come through the door as we continue to look and be open to signing one or two.”
When asked about squad selection and possible rotation for the cup tie, Cook stated: “We will be picking the team we think can win the game, none of the jargon about pre-season minutes, we are here to win. There are no secrets in football, there are no marginal gains in tactics, the best team will win tomorrow.”
With football returning to the SMH Group Stadium in just over a week’s time, Cook praised the supporters as they get ready for another season of travelling up and down the country to follow the club.
“We have a special fanbase with the amount of people that come through the turnstiles every week,” he said. “We take pride in playing in front of nine or ten thousand fans and we will always try to play a good brand of football.
“For the season ahead, we will try to keep ourselves grounded and look to remove ourselves from the negativity and madness within football.”
