Cédric Kipré has described Town’s squad depth as a ‘blessing’ ahead of the Blues’ busy run of fixtures over the Christmas period.

As is standard in the Championship, the schedule from November through to January is gruelling, with Town in the midst of 12 matches during that time in little over six weeks.

It should come as no surprise that manager Kieran McKenna has utilised his whole squad in recent weeks, and further rotation is expected to maintain freshness and sharpness across all positions on the pitch.

Kipré, who has recently enjoyed a run in the side himself, acknowledged the challenges McKenna faces when having to choose which personnel to start.

“There’s a lot of players, it must be very difficult for him to make those kinds of decisions,” he said. “There’s a lot of players that deserve to play, there’s a lot of good and experienced players.

“It’s difficult for players when you do the rotations, of course you want to play every single game. But when there’s that many good players in the squad, everyone has to play.

“With the number of games we have, I think it’s a blessing to have that amount of quality in the squad.”

McKenna clearly demands an extremely high standard in training on a daily basis at Playford Road, which ensures every member of the squad feels valued and believes they have a genuine opportunity of significant minutes on a matchday.

Kipré insists his mentality was a simple one, and that he has earned his place in the side as a result of his hunger in training.

The Ivory Coast international said: “Just keep working hard. Even when I wasn’t playing, he was still talking to me a lot, telling me what I needed to improve on and stuff like that.

“I kept my head down, kept working, supporting the boys how I could. The manager saw the effort I was putting in training, so I’ve been rewarded.

“The standard is very high and it has to be because everybody wants to play and everyone is a good player in the team. Everyone wants to prove to the manager that they want to play on the weekend, so you can imagine that the standard is really high in training.”

Reflecting further on his relationship with McKenna, Kipré added: “It’s good. I think everyone knows that he’s a good coach and a very good manager.

“I also like his relationship with the whole squad, he doesn’t only speak with the starters or anything like that. He wants everybody to improve and I really like it.

“I feel like I’ve improved since I came in. This season is still long, so I hope I will keep on improving. I wouldn’t say that I’m at my best now because I try to improve each year. Hopefully next season I’m even better than I am now.”

Kipré also says he has a good relationship with fellow defender Jacob Greaves, who has been his main challenger to a starting berth on the left side of the central defensive pairing.

“It’s good,” he said. “My relationship with everyone in the squad is very good. I get on with everyone. If I can help Greavesy, I will help him. If he can help me, he will help me. We’re all working towards the same goal this season.”

On captain Dara O’Shea, Kipré added: “It’s great. He’s a good guy, we get on very well and we’ve played together before. It’s easy.

“He tries to motivate everybody before the games, after the games and at half-time. He’s a good captain.”

While Kipré is on loan from French side Reims, the defender is no stranger to the Championship having made more than half of his career appearances in the English second tier.

Previously on the books at Wigan Athletic, West Bromwich Albion and Cardiff City, the 29-year-old is well placed to assess the quality of the Championship this season in relation to previous campaigns.

“The standard is quite high,” he said. “As you can see with the league, it’s very tight so I think that’s a good thing. Except for Coventry at the top, I think everybody has got a chance this season.

“Until the end of the season until the last game, it’s going to be very tough. I enjoy the league, the same as when I was here in previous seasons.

“I prefer it because there’s not too much training and a lot of games. All we want to do is play games, I love it.”

Asked to compare the league’s differences to French football, he replied: “I would say the tempo because the tempo here is very high and in France it’s very tactical and a bit more slow.

“I would say technically the level in France is a bit higher than here, but both leagues are great.”

Photo: TWTD