Chairman Roy MacGregor is eager for Ross County fans to know they will be seeing a raft of new faces arriving at the Scottish Premiership club in the coming days.
He knows supporters are getting restless at what they see as a lack of movement, but he insists that there have been around-the-clock efforts to get competitive teams in place on and off the park in Dingwall.
The Staggies chief revealed that more than 100 targets have been issued videos of the impressive set-up at Ross County, a base that former defender Josh Reid, now at Coventry City, just last week spoke of glowingly.
Since Malky Mackay came in as the new manager at the end of May, only attacking midfielder Ross Callachan has been added to the squad, which was dramatically cut down.
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Ten first-team players, including captain Iain Vigurs and club record scorer and appearance holder Michael Gardyne, were not handed new deals and it leaves only a handful of senior players on the books.
Callachan were certainly seen as a positive signing, with the driving force up top for Hamilton looking to improve under Mackay in a Staggies shirt.
And impressive midfielder Blair Spittal signing on for another year was the next piece of encouraging news for the Staggies.
Just over a week ago, the new boss explained that patience is the key in terms of getting his side in shape for the upcoming season.
The former Scotland performance director has also reshaped his coaching team.
Don Cowie has stepped up from first-team coach, replacing another club legend in Richie Brittain, who was let go.
Former Staggies midfielder Stuart Taylor has been added to the backroom team, boasting a rich amount of coaching experience from times at Aston Villa, Wolves, Stoke City and Ipswich Town.
Enda Barron, who specialises in football data analysis and player recruitment structures, is another capture by Mackay and he has worked from English Premier League level and down throughout the divisions.
Goalkeeping coach Scott Thomson, physiotherapist Willie Nolan and sport scientist Liam Jukes remain on board.
Former left-back Carl Tremarco has hung up his boots to become the new head of youth too.
With player numbers low, County have yet to kick off their pre-season matches, with Saturday’s trip to Elgin City the first one on the list.
Taking time to get recruitment correct
However, MacGregor is assuring supporters that the extensive changes are about to be noticed.
He said: “I know fans are not hearing much right now, but I can assure them there is a lot of hard work going on and people will see the first fruits of that in the coming days.
“We’ve sent players videos of the set-up at Ross County. We are saying ‘if you can’t travel here, take a look at this’. Over the last 10 days, we have sent out more than 100 of these to potential signings.”
He stressed: “We are all working really hard behind the scenes to get things right.
“We have taken our time and our management team is in place. The work of recruiting is being carried out extensively.
“The loan system and medical systems have been worked on and over the coming days and couple of weeks you will see a dramatic change in what we’re trying to do.
“That will give our fans some hope. Yes, we are taking our time to make sure we are getting the right people in.
“By the time we get the League Cup (on July 10 at Forfar Athletic) started, we will be in a far better shape than we are at the moment.”
More than 100 targets seeing the club’s benefits on video
The backroom recruitment had to be the first stage of a major summer rebuild in Dingwall.
MacGregor said: “We have got to be scientific and we have a recruitment analysist (Enda Barron) in now, who has arrived at the club with (a list of) 1000 players and we have to make sure we check out everyone.
“With the Euros on, that’s challenging as well and the English market doesn’t really open up for another week or so.
“However, I can assure the supporters that a lot of hard work has been going on. We have been looking to get the right people in as we rebuild.
“Malky has got his coaching team in place and that was stage one for us. The existing group of players have been back almost two weeks now and that’s given him time to see what he’s got and assess exactly what he’s got to bring in.
“We have upgraded our medical system and had consultants in. We are also in the process of upgrading our gym and our backroom facilities. People will notice the difference.”
Young players set for breakthrough season
MacGregor insists it’s not just about bringing in experienced pros next year.
The emphasis will also be on the integration of young players into the first-team and he wants to see that progress over the next year.
He added: “We have three or four young boys who will go with the first-team squad this year and we hope to see breakthroughs.
“They were unfortunate last season that element didn’t really happen with Covid.
“We need to get them more involved in team sport and make sure that wasn’t a wasted year and they get the opportunities this year.”
Meanwhile, in a statement released by the club, MacGregor said Ross County have applied for permission to have 2,000 supporters at games at Victoria Park at the start of the season.
He said: “At present, we know under government guidance we will have at least 1,000 supporters allowed within the stadium.
“The club has already submitted an application to increase that capacity to 2,000 supporters given we had run five very successful test events last season.
“In the knowledge that social distancing will be reduced in the weeks to come, we do not feel this is ambitious, but a more realistic expectation.
“We know that this will be extremely welcome news for our supporters and will give you all more comfort in purchasing your season tickets.
“We hope you will all have great confidence in returning to the stadium on the success of our test matches with fans last season.
“Although we are looking forward to welcoming our supporters back, it is important to remember that there will still be some physical distancing, which we anticipate to be around 1 metre, but this will, in the short term, impact on where people will be seated in the stadium.
“We can not guarantee that the seat you want will be the seat you sit in initially, but we will endeavour to keep Jailend season ticket holders in the Jailend stand and the same for the other stands – again this will be a short term issue.”
