Forest Green Rovers boss Steve Cotterill ahead of new season after friendly draw at Slimbridge

Forest Green Rovers began the 2024/25 pre-season with a 1-1 draw against Slimbridge after a first-half goal from Jacob Maddox on Monday evening.

Of course, the results in pre-season are not much to go by with the general idea being for building on fitness. Following the result, Rovers boss, Steve Cotterill said: “Years ago I would have been thinking all about the result. Pre-season means absolutely nothing, I have had fantastic pre-seasons and then gone and lost the first game and I have had awful pre-seasons and started really well. It is really difficult to gauge where you are going to be, but as long as they are fit and we can steer clear of any injuries, that is all that we want.”

On the progress of the squad so far, Cotterill said That is the first time we have touched the ball today, they have had a really tough week, some really tough days. We will get there, that is probably why we started with a lot of the boys that were here last year, you probably found that there was a bit more cohesion to their play compared to the guys in the second-half. That is what it is all about, they will get to know each other and they will integrate and I am sure they will be fine.”

Liam Sercombe was the only notable absentee from the game against Slimbridge. On his absence from the squad, Cotterill said: “He pulled a calf in the week before we came back in his off-season programme and then when he came back we thought he was okay and he had done the warmup on the first day and then the minute we started doing some running he pulled up again so we have to be careful with him now.”

Having made five signings already at this stage of pre-season, Cotterill gave an update on how happy he was with the business done so far. He stated: “I would have been happier if I maybe could have got a couple more, I haven’t been off of the phone all summer. Even on holiday, the break hasn’t really been a break I would say, but I knew that.

“There is lots of work to do here and lots to change, I think the guys that we have brought in will do a really good job for the club, I think they are good characters. It has probably been made more difficult because of relegation, what you are having to do is talk players out of the Football League and that has been the difficult part for me, but that is the reality of it.”

With a long time to still recruit players in the current window for the Rovers, Cotterill did not give a definitive answer on how many more players would be likely to come through the door. He said on the matter: “It depends on the flexibility of the player. The players that we have got, when recruiting them we needed to know that they could play in a few positions. When I looked last year there was about 41 players that had been through Forest Green’s books and when I came in there was a good 30 that were available to me.

“I don’t know how you can ever keep that group together and happy and also without them getting unfit. So, I will shrink the group and make that tighter, for them also as well to make it that they can see that they can get a game, rather than being a long way away from getting a game and not being involved because all that does is it demoralises them and then they think they are never going to get a game.

"If you have a look at the people that have come in, Sean Long can right-back, right wing-back and right-side centre-back. Ben Tozer can play right-side centre-back, left-side centre-back and in the middle of a three. Adam May can play as a six, an eight or as a 10 in midfield. Tom Knowles, right-wing, left-wing, right wing-back, left wing-back. Sercs, he brings goals to the team, he has just got an eye for a goal and I don’t think you can ever afford to not have a midfield player in your team that is going to get goals. Sercs is more the attacking midfield player, I wouldn’t say that he hasn’t got a defensive string to his bow because he will do that, but it is more goals with Sercs.”

Monday’s game was the first time that many supporters would have seen the newly recruited staff members in Russell Milton, Rob Edwards and Wayne Brown. Having managed to bring in new coaches, Cotterill said: “I have known Russell for a long time, I signed him at Cheltenham from Dover in 1997, I signed him for about £4,000 and he was a great signing. I had a conversation with Russ and I am delighted to bring him back on board.

“Rob Edwards, I have known for a long time as well, another really good guy, to support Dan (Connor) as well really because last year it was just Dan and I and if I am brutally honest, we were stretched at times. Wayne had come in on a few odd days to help us throughout last season, but now he is full-time in with us so we are pleased that we got him. The backroom team now certainly does look stronger than it did last year and there are more pairs of hands.”

There is notable progress with the new training pitches that Forest Green have installed at junction 13. In terms of training there, the Rovers boss said: “We are able to use them, we haven’t been down there yet. We have used the school pitch just across the way from the main stadium, just simply because we have been running at the moment and that is good enough without us having to get a bus to go all the way down there and back.

“We are okay with that, whether we go there before we go away on Saturday I don’t know, the players may end up having a break midweek this week because we have got the game on Saturday and then we are away for 10 days or so in Germany, they might need a day to go and see their families.”

Ahead of the trip away, it could be a good moment for the new players to begin to bond well with the ones that have stayed on from last season. Cotterill stated: “They have a great chance of bonding together now, to be fair they haven’t done bad already. I am surprised on how well they have got on because that has been good, which is going to be really important. A good team never wins anything without having any team spirit. A few of them have overlapped in their careers a little bit when they were younger, I think they have knitted really well and I think that Germany they will knit again. They may have some squabbles along the way, but that is what it is all about.”

Rovers are next in action on Saturday when they take on Melksham Town in the next pre-season fixture. Ahead of that fixture, the boss said: “I need to look at the numbers from tonight and see what they have done, I will be looking at that tomorrow with a view to Wednesday and Thursday. We haven’t worked on anything; it is fitness at the moment.

"This is the only time that you can get your team fit, once they can stay fit and get through pre-season and not miss a day, that is perfect. You will never get this moment back and I don’t think they had a good moment last year from what I heard. I know it is only hearsay, but they did not have a particularly good pre-season last year so that is really important.”

Slimbridge starting XI: Phillips, Deakin, Rodgers, Welch, Mara, Hitchings, Clayson, Blackie, Langlais, Smith, Sutherland.

Forest Green Rovers: Searle (Pagel 69); Lavinier (Sanniola 68), Bunker (Raut 68), Inniss (Merrett 68), Moore-Taylor (Tozer 46), Robson (Long 46); McCann (May 46), Osadebe (Knowles 46), Maddox (Hughes 68); McAllister (Jenks 46), Doidge (Omotoye 46).

Referee: Adam McAnoy.

Attendance: 576.