Blues boss Kieran McKenna says he can’t be happier with the squad he has worked with throughout pre-season but admits there’s still lots to do to get numbers up to where he wants them before the transfer window closes on September 1st.
The pre-season progressed well with Town having won all of their public friendlies, although there were late injury blows to Harry Clarke (knee) and Conor Townsend (ACL), which will keep them out for some time, and Leif Davis (hip) and Jaden Philogene (ankle) which means they’re doubts for Friday’s season-opener at Birmingham City.
"I can only speak for the players who are here and who have been through pre-season,” McKenna said. "We’re really, really happy with them, the group that have been here have been working really well. Commitment’s been good, excited for the season, we’ve progressed over the course of pre-season.
"Of course, for that group, it’s a lot of the players’ first full pre-season at the club, a lot of that group arrived through the last couple of transfer windows and maybe late in the transfer window, so it’s been nice having pre-season with that group and I think we’ve got a core of a really committed and talented group that really want to have a big season.
"I think in terms of the squad in general, there are inevitable challenges that you go through having been through promotion so quickly and then a relegation.
"We’ve probably lost one or two more players than we would have wanted, to be honest, so we know that there are some gaps in the squad that we have to fill.
"But there are opportunities for players who have been here to step up into those roles and also for us to try and add to the squad.
"The challenge of bringing in players in any transfer window is always tough. We’d like to be a little bit further ahead than we are but there are still a lot of situations ongoing.
"I can’t be happier with the boys that have been here and the core group that we’ll bring to Birmingham in terms of how they’ve worked and prepared. But there’s still a lot to do.
"It’s another summer of probably more turnover than we would have wanted but the journey of the club in the last few years has been so rapid that is inevitable and it’s up to us to roll with that and make the best of that situation and make sure we could out of the other side of it stronger.”
Reflecting on the aims during the close season squad-wise, McKenna added: "I think our starting point going into the summer was trying to keep as many of our best players as possible and in some situations we have with the likes of Dara [O’Shea] and other situations we’ve lost important players. That was always the starting point, trying to keep the core of the group together.
"The next objective was probably to add quality to the squad and we’ve done that with the players who we’ve brought in, I think they all bring us something.
"But with the players that we’ve lost, with some injury situations that we have, I think at the moment, in reality, we’re shorter than we want to be in terms of numbers, in terms of quality.
"In some areas we’re stronger, in some areas at the moment we’re really, really short for where we want to be, so we’ve still got work to do over the next few weeks.
"Of course, we would rather things were done and we had our whole squad together for the first game of the season and for the whole of pre-season, but that’s not always the reality, not always possible.
"I think a bigger priority is that the club does the right thing for the club, for its short, medium and long-term future.
"That’s been the priority and I think we have a core of really good players, good people ready to attack the season and we’re going to have to add to that over the next few weeks and one of our challenges as a staff is going to be bringing that group together again and moulding them into a team.
"A new team really from what we had the last time when we were in the division and making a team again that our supporters can be proud of, that fights and plays in the way that we want them to and, of course, gives us the best chance of winning the games.”
Among those important players who departed was captain Sam Morsy, who joined Kuwait SC last month.
McKenna reiterated his tribute to the Egypt international, who skippered the team to back-to-back promotions.
"A huge impact and I’m sure the stories will be told and words said for a long time. Someone who I have a huge respect and mutual gratitude to for how he’s led the club over the last few years,” he said.
"A big impact on the club, he feels vice versa, I think both had a big impact on each other’s careers and he’s led the team and led the club really, really well.
"Of course, he’s moved onto pastures new. From a football perspective, he’s certainly a loss for the football club and also off the pitch, but an opportunity that he wanted to take and a really good opportunity for him in different ways.
"So he goes with our absolute best wishes and I’m sure he’ll be back to the training ground and stadium at some point so that everyone can say a more formal goodbye.
"For now, a legend of the club and someone who goes with the best wishes of everyone.”
Asked whether he’d prefer the transfer window to close before the season gets under way, McKenna said: "I’d imagine there are different arguments to that. Of course, from a manager’s perspective, you would really want everything done.
"Sometimes you look at the football industry and think it’s madness that deals go to the last day, to the last hours, to the last minutes or seconds ahead of a deadline when the season at ends at some point in May for most divisions.
"But that’s the way that the industry works and it has some benefits, it’s not easy to align all the different divisions.
"You can pick up issues in the first weeks of the season which I can also understand it’s fair then to be able to make an addition because it’s a long season ahead.
"There are lots of different perspectives on it, but I’m sure like all managers, we would all much rather the business was done earlier and you could have your group together for longer.
"But it’s the challenge ahead of us, especially the challenge for a team who is moving between divisions every season at the moment. There is more change than is ideal, later change than is ideal, but it’s up to us to go and make the best of that situation.”