Hucknall Town, Looking ahead to 24/25 season with manager Reece Limbert. 

With the 24/25 United Counties Premier North starting Saturday (27th July 2024), I had a quick chat with Hucknall Town's manager Reece Limbert about all things pre season and looking ahead to their forthcoming season at step 5. 

Took the Hucknall job during last season. Firstly. How is your 1st pre season in the job going? 

Pre-season has gone really well so far. We’ve looked at a few different things and we’ve got out of it what we needed to. It took a while to get signings in and confirmed but they never happen overnight, especially when players have multiple offers, but I’m delighted with who we’ve signed.

The squad needed to be tested against better opposition and I think we’ve surprised a few with some positive results and performances. We have one more friendly against Stapleford mid week which will prepare us nicely for Saturdays opener away to Sleaford.

You’ve just had a big showpiece friendly with League One Mansfield. As a young manager. How did you find the whole experience?

It was a fantastic occasion for the football club and the fans. These are the types of games you want to be involved in especially as a manager, they don’t come around too often at our level. The week leading up to the game was so exciting and full of anticipation. I didn’t sleep very well on Friday night and got to the ground a lot earlier than usual, probably just a lot of excitement and adrenaline. Nigel Clough was brilliant with me. We had a good chat before the game about pre-season and how I’m finding it in management. It was great to share the dugouts with someone of his experience.

Some old faces retained & new faces in at The RM. Firstly are you confident you can better last season & how excited are you for the league to start? 

There had to be some additions both on and off the pitch to ensure we don’t have a repeat of last season. We’ve got a fantastic coach in Alena in our ranks and we’ve made some great signings across most positions to add to who we retained.  I’m confident that we’ll be significantly better than last season. When I took the role on last season, we gave everyone a 10game head start and was always up against it. Our form on the final 10 games was good enough for the top 8 and we finished with positive goal difference in those games, but not many people realise that. The fact we’ve added to the squad that achieved that gives me confidence. 

I’m really excited for the season. Lots of work has gone in to get the squad as prepared as possible, I just can’t wait for Saturday and the busy first few weeks of the season where we will no doubt be playing twice a week for a while.

Finally, if you have 1 message for the Hucknall faithful for the forthcoming season? 

Last season the support was outstanding and the fans were there when we needed them most. This year we want things to be different on the pitch and we’ll do everything we can to give our loyals fans something to cheer about. It may not happen overnight, but the foundations are there to keep progressing forward.

Thank you very much Reece for your time in answering my questions. I'm sure I will be down The RM Stadium at least a couple of times this season and best of luck for this coming season. 

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