Paul Warne talks to www.themillers.co.uk...
Rotherham United boss Paul Warne insists he is happy with the arrangements in place for pre-season, as he awaits the return of his first team squad on Monday morning.
The Millers will once again open their pre-season campaign with a friendly against local side Parkgate, before departing for Austria a day later, with friendlies against the likes of Cardiff City and Mansfield Town on the agenda upon their return.
However, the club’s promotion the Sky Bet Championship last season has caused a couple of pre-arranged friendlies to fall by the wayside, leaving at least one date in the diary free.
In spite of that, Warne admits he is content with the plans in place ahead of the new season and is confident that his players will get in the necessary minutes to ensure they are once again able to show the physical fitness which helped them so significantly last term.
“Pre-season plans are going alright. Staff are all ahead of things this year and we all know each other a bit more,” he told www.themillers.co.uk.
“I know that I know my staff really well, but in regards to the medical team and Ross [Burbeary] and the others, everyone knows how we all work, which makes the cohesion part of it a lot easier.
“Everything is good in that respect. The only downside was that we had games against Championship clubs for pre-season because we wanted big games at New York, but obviously since we've gone up, the downside of the promotion I suppose is that those games had to be cancelled as neither party wanted them.
“Personally, I don't really mind who we play pre-season, I understand it from the commercial point of view but the games themselves are just to get the lads fit, strong and match ready, playing how we want to play.
“The results are immaterial really. It's good to get used to winning but I think someone told me that nearly all the teams we played pre-season last year got relegated, which is probably why we're still struggling to fill one fixture at the moment!
“We'll get the games and if we don't get the ones we want, I hope to have a competitive squad and we'll just play games against ourselves at the stadium or here [training ground] and we'll get the minutes and the fitness into the lads to prepare them for what should be a really exciting season.”