Morecambe backroom team get their ideas across

The Shrimps’ squad started their build-up to the 2023/24 campaign last Wednesday, looking to bounce back after last season’s relegation from League One.

Adams has been renowned as a hard taskmaster in pre-season, with Morecambe’s fitness levels playing a key role in the number of late goals they scored during the promotion season of 2020/21.

However, the manager has revealed his backroom team will play a key role in the fitness work this time around.

He explained: “I’ve changed it. This will be the first pre-season that I’ve allowed John McMahon (assistant boss) and Oli Howse, our head of performance, to put their own stamp on the fitness work in the afternoons.

“I’ll do the morning work instead. It’s a bit of a flip because I did all the fitness work but I decided, this year, to give them some ownership.

“I’m quite hands-on but I thought it was important they got their ideas across and I think that, sometimes, you’ve got to hand that over.”

It’s been a summer of change at the Mazuma Mobile Stadium with Adams embarking upon another squad overhaul.

Last season brought 17 new faces and 16 players leaving, either permanently or on loan.

Then, May’s retained list saw 14 players depart after failing to be offered new terms amid uncertainty over the budget for 2023/24.

That meant only six players were under contract with all the players signed by Adams’ predecessor, Stephen Robinson, off the books.

One of those players – Adam Smith – has subsequently re-signed while a number of new faces were present last week.

Gone are the days of players using the summer as a prolonged party before sweating off the excesses on their return to training.

Instead, Adams was pleased by what he saw when players old and new reconvened seven days ago.

“The six players, as well as the others who came in later, we assessed their fitness levels on day one,” he said.

“They have got to come back at a level that enables us to move quite quickly into the games ahead.

“We play our first pre-season game next week (Workington, July 11) so everyone has to be ready to go.”