Q&A with Mark and Nigel

A question and answer session took place last night at Prenton Park with Chairman Mark Palios and Manager Nigel Adkins. This is a transcript produced by the Tranmere Rovers Supporters Association.

Summary of the TROSC Q&A MH: how do you feel the season is shaping up so far? NA: Started last season; kept good group who had done well since November. Difficult to recruit but was determined to keep squad around 25. Everyone wants to play so a big squad doesn’t help with that. Pleased that strategy was to keep core and make sure we got the lads we wanted in rather than players we didn’t want. Finances always a consideration too. Players arrived for pre-season training fit. Later signings can be not ready so we started the season ready. Our KPIs are well understood by team. Disappointed to lose Hawkes/Taylor to injury, was looking forwards to both looking to kick on. Losing Drysdale was a blow - he’d trained with us and been brilliant. Fitness stats were great & then received Injury during match. Played good games V Blackpool/Wigan. Luke Norris scored a great goal. Won games v higher clubs all way through preseason and all strikers scored. Notts county was a different challenge - unfortunate we didn’t score but kept clean sheet. Accrington V good. Brad Walker dropped into CB and doesn’t everyone agree he’s been excellent. Port Vale, change of formation changed course of game - matched theirs. Worked with a local ref in summer to understand how games will be officiated. Use All Blacks NZ as an example - how they keep a cool head when decisions go against them and learning from this. Omari Patrick been very good. We’ve changed shape on several occasions v Everton U21, played a one diamond, with Dennis in the 10 role. Need to adapt at times what a battle the Walsall game was. Weren’t you proud of team? [agreement all round] 25 clean sheets will get us promoted. The away support is great and makes a big difference. Sometimes result will go against us but we want to make you proud of the team. Currently on 2 points per game. Unfortunately out of Carabao Cup but what a great evening with lots of fans travelling. Keen to get balance right so fans are entertained but that we win MH: Looking at international break, has that disrupted momentum or does it help given our injuries? NA: We had been Sat/Tues since kick off so in that way a good time. The flip of it as that we lose a game and it may be a while before it can be played due to Wimbledon’s fixtures that home game could have made a big difference looking at the table. Aim is very clear: promotion. Also a financial hit - lose £20k with it being a Tuesday v a Saturday. It did let us get players back but we had momentum and want to kick on MH: What sort of player is the right player for this club? NA: Everyone loves the excitement of signings -but we want to be successful. Good group together, keeping that & adding to them was key. Not about individuals, it’s about us. Every player must give everything to team When we hand in team sheet, do we have enough players to mark opposition players. Goal scorer, long throw, leader - all these things we try and put into blend. eg Regan Hendry very talented, can we get someone to complement his attacking strengths. 100 people in room. If I wrote an XI on the board, guarantee only 1 or 2 would pick the same eleven. That's the beauty of it

Q: Appears to be more togetherness this season - players are sticking together - one man for everybody. Have we deliberately worked on that? NA: Thanks for identifying that - it’s pleasing. Bringing a group together and aligning them takes time moving in the right direction and very positive

Q: Is it difficult keeping players who aren’t in the first XI match ready given no reserve team etc? NA: It can be difficult - how can you expect someone to come in and be ready to play if not been doing right things on training ground. Lots of work, understanding of science.. Training is designed to try and minimise injury. Smaller squad keeps players motivated as they know they have a chance of playing. Schedule can sometimes be relentless Saturday/Tues/Sat/Tues Carlisle, Gillingham, Colchester etc - tough schedule!! We try and ensure players are ready to go. We had a game on Saturday in place of the Wimbledon game - Harvey Saunders scored two great goals!! Luke Norris and Sam Taylor got some minutes Q: Have we got a plan for towards end of season as teams have seemed exhausted towards the end in the last couple of seasons? NA: Training programme is designed to get players fitter and fitter throughout season. Smart recovery is key as are sleep, nutrition, hydration If you don’t recover correctly, you don’t operate at your maximum next time. We will also reassess where we are in January window. Have to be smart at time of year - often clubs trying to get rid of a player. But this period key to ensure squad is fresh enough… And with ten games to go can we be in the promotion race with the right amount of energy

Q: Why don’t we leave someone on the halfway line when defending a corner? NA: I’ve done it leaving 2/3 up. If we don’t have enough markers in the team would do that so we can track players back. When managing in Prem, stats showed high vulnerability defending a corner. Other things to look at - men on post? Zonal V man mark? Prefer quick players on edge of box as enables us to counter attack. Keeper can throw ball to these and they can attack. Defend your goal first but also enable counter. MP: Football processes - you’re already planning for next season by Jan. lost players like Cogley for free but had to balance cost versus needs of team. Jan is a difficult window due to variety of factors. Also when signing players also got to look at ability to play level higher When we got to Jan last season we knew we had a good core of squad, and had beaten all the top sides. Look at budget - we are at the limit of EFL spending rules. Question for every signing is does it make us better? Other tactical thing we did was to ensure we didn’t go into pre season without having a strong first eleven. MP: You can look at luck; injuries, decisions etc. NA: Sam Finlay had played 90 minutes V Preston, played every second, then got a poor challenge in last kick of game

Q: Why was the new EFL TV deal voted through? MP: Voting system in EFL has changed over the years, weighted towards Championship. 80/12/8 split across three divisions. Nicola has better stats on the impact on us NP: Clubs like Salford/Accrington benefit as they had lower streaming incomes. TV revenue largely offsets streaming loss but if attendances drop due to KO changes it will cost us Q: A burly gentleman has been spotted in Main Stand. Is this takeover related? MP: It is no secret that our plan was to move the club into a position where it can be taken over by someone who can take it forwards. Can’t guarantee investors - PJ was trying for a decade also Also got to keep focus on running club. It does take time. We have got to a position where people are interested. Not a cash rich club not lots of potential. Investment needed to take it to next stage Joe Tacapino is one of a number of people who have come to look at the club. Can only say so much as lots of NDAs in place. But he’s one of a number looking at the club. Some people come and look discreetly, but Joe happy to be prominent Company being set up is just a foundational move, names can be changed overnight etc. But he is interested. Norman Smurthwaite comes the games to watch Ultimately aim is to recapitulate whether that means selling or investment Q: Investment essential, but would you ensure you stayed on and kept the ethos of the club? MP: Depends on who comes in but there would be a fully planned transition if we were to be taken over. Anybody who comes in will need to appreciate quality of people in the club Q: What is the current strategic vision for the club in 5-10 years? MP: We won’t be here in 5-10 years being realistic. This is a very attractive club and there will be investment. Projects such as new stadium are on hold as they are for whoever comes in afterwards to look at. Other projects we’d like to do around training ground etc. There will be people here - may be 6 weeks, 6 months but won’t be 6 years. We can get to L1 but need investment to stay there

Q: Are clubs sleepwalking to a crisis with attendances dropping due to broadcasting deals etc? MP: Power rests with players who will take contracts where they want to go. Other sports facing similar challenges eg cricket. Pyramid can be retained but we have to protect it Never seen an industry so dependent on overfunding. When people get into habit of not going to away games etc, it slowly dissipates. We have longer term plans around growing fanbase.

Q: What is the latest on the fanzone? MP: The fanzone is a trust project. Club has provided a lease but Trust responsible for planning, designing, financing etc. Club is acting as a landlord. Approx one year ago could see work had basically stopped… Asked for a meeting with all of the parties involved. German Kraft declined as felt it was a landlord/tenant matter. Looked through it in more detail subsequently. Was concerned RE project. On 6/11/23 attended Trust meeting and gave views. Club felt business plan was in economically difficult situation. Was keen to protect money fans had put in, TROSC had put in £20k etc. Also wanted to protect Trust, which has been good for club for long time. Following this meeting, my staff and I looked through business plans. Have looked at 1000 business plans in career. Economics didn’t seem so stack up - 800k for build, 800k to brewery. Could have stepped in on 9/1/24 because that was the date it was due. Some of this is for the Trust to communicate. Felt beer that would be sold would be approx 10% of what brewery would be producing. What was being put here would also be to supply other locations in the north. Club will help Trust with priority of paying fan loans back etc. Team set up to do this 4 weeks ago. Met with German Kraft who did not answer questions. No market research was conducted. Brewery cited location in London which is near two major tube stations and millions of people. Trust working as volunteer. Club is going to try and make the best of it. Get it built. Prioritise paying back loan holders as best we can. At this stage do not know what final outcome will look like but it will be fixed

Q: Prenton park and facilities etc here are great, will we be better off staying here? MP: Personal opinion, a move would help make us self sustaining club. Relevant clauses for transfer of ownership will provide veto for anyone attempting to move ground more than 5 miles etc Once club is transferred, this would be one of the projects new owners would look at. Feasibility study has not been done yet. Until that’s done not looking to spend time/energy on it as we don’t know until that study is done NP: Golden shares will ensure there is a consultation with the fans on any ground move etc MH:

Final one to Nigel, what can we expect this weekend? NA: Gillingham will be tough test, but we’re in a good place, players coming back from injury. Still undecided on one position - sleepless night tonight. We’re in good shape and looking forwards to it Our ambition is to get promoted. Our aim is to win the next game. Really looking forwards to the weekend. And after that maybe I can go and see my new grandson!!