NEW Wrexham striker Simon Brown believes the club’s fans have every reason to be optimistic as the Blue Square Premier season draws ever closer.
The pacy 24-year-old, a summer signing from Mansfield Town, admitted yesterday he had been very impressed by manager Brian Little’s method and organisation since pre-season training began just over three weeks ago.
“The training has been great and the coaching staff have put on some very good and interesting sessions,” he said.
“I’m still getting to know the boys but the games are coming along now and we’ll need to gel as a team in the coming weeks.
“No matter what else happens we need to be ready for the start of the season on August 9.”
Tranmere Rovers were the latest visitors to Wrexham’s Colliers Park training complex yesterday for a 90-minute workout, following a similar exercise with Shrewsbury Town last week and last Saturday’s public friendly against Wolves at the Racecourse.
Brown said: “I enjoyed last Saturday’s game and I was pleased to get a hard 45 minutes under my belt in a game situation.
“We are still working on a lot of things that we need to become a better team, but that was a decent start for everyone.
“Hopefully there is more to come in the other games that we have coming up so that everything has been ironed out in time for the new campaign.”
Blackpool are next up at the Racecourse this weekend and Brown is hoping for a repeat of the encouraging display against Wolves, which was greeted favourably by fans still coming to terms with last May’s exit from the Football League.
“There was bound to be a lot of disappointment around the place after what happened last season, but I have to say I’ve sensed nothing but buoyancy since I came in,” he said.
“Fans will have high expectations next season and we’ll try to match them.
“But we know it won’t be easy and we’ll have to take it one step at a time, stick in there and hopefully do enough to be as competitive as the best teams in the league,” the striker said.
As for his own ambitions, Brown added: “I haven’t set myself any targets other than to get myself as fit as I can in pre-season and then to score as many goals as I can when the season gets under way.
“I think we have a good bunch of strikers here, so it won’t be easy to keep a place in the team. That thought will keep me on my toes and make sure I work hard all the time.
“Because of my pace I was able to cause problems for League Two defenders and score goals last season and I would hope the same thing applies next season.”
Little, meanwhile, declared himself satisfied with yesterday’s workout against one of his former clubs.
“There was a little bit of tiredness out there, which is only to be expected as we push them that little bit harder every week,” said the Racecourse boss.
“Every time we put the players in a game situation we learn something different and it’s much more valuable to watch them when there is a bit of an edge to what’s going on.
“We’ll probably play two entirely different teams again on Saturday and we’ll have a look at one or two more options.
“Some people will have been surprised to see Gareth Evans in midfield last Saturday, but it worked quite well, and we put Nat Brown in a similar role today, again with some degree of success.
“We’re still some way from being the finished article, as you would expect, although I genuinely feel we have made real progress in terms of the group which has changed substantially from last season.”
