By Bryan Waters

"Second week back and it's been good. We've got no injuries so that's the main thing. Sodj came in today which was nice of him. That kind of helps and we look alright, just look a bit light. The idea is we go with a squad that's not as big as last year, but the 18 or 19 players have all got a chance of playing in the team and that's what we're going to stick with. If we need more players, then we'll go into the loan market and try to add more if we think we need them.

I don't think, with the limited squad, that if one of them gets an injury, it'll kill us. It depends who too obviously, but we're no different to any other team. We're all looking for a centre half or someone who can cover a centre half, but the only thing we're lacking is a bit of cover up front. We'd like four strikers, like most teams so our main priority is a striker. Losing Nicky Adams has caused us a problem so, obviously, a left winger as well.

We have to keep looking. We're in the same situation as everybody else. The market's really quiet. I spoke to Keith Alexander the other day and he said he had 15 players and 16 trialists so we're all in the same position. We've not as many trialists as that. I spoke to Mick Harford and he said he's got 15 players. He's finding it very difficult. It's just keep going and hopefully something will turn up.

There's not as many signings compared to the number of players released last season. It's becoming more and more difficult and your big clubs don't really want to let their players out yet. They want to have a look at the players first so for the first two, three weeks of the season, they keep them in the club and then they make their decisions on whether they're going to keep them in or not. It's frustrating but if I had to put an 11 out tomorrow, I think I've got a pretty good 11 so that's the main thing.

We've got trialists and they've got a chance. It's just up to them really. Some are recommended by agents and some are recommended by scouts and coaching staff. We will have a look. I just don't like too many and I don't like having more trialists than I have actual players.

Phil Marsh has come in, just out of the blue really. The agent rung me and asked if I'd have a look at him. I know he didn't play much last year for Blackpool. It's pretty local for him so we'll have a look. Michael Jones from Tranmere comes highly recommended from some people that I respect their opinions and Danny Racchi, the right back, from Huddersfield who I've seen quite a bit. He can play right back, right wing and we've got Nathan Joynes, a striker who Chris Wilder had. We've got four at the moment and I like no more than 4 or 5. It gets silly and they have to bring something to the trial. I've been at places where they bring trialists in and it's embarrassing. You have to be really careful who you bring in and the players we have at the minute just look at it and think that we don't know what we're doing bringing this lot in so you have to be really careful.

Ian Harrop mentioned quality rather than quantity in the Bury Times. I think that's correct and it is quite difficult. It's a tight budget but when I came in, we talked about it and I looked at the squad that was already here. Some of the players, with the greatest respect to them, were never playing in the first team. They were just here to make up the numbers and it's no good to them and no good to the club. They were here to make up the numbers and I don't want that. If I've got 18 players and one's injured or one loses form, then I've got another one to come in and I can go to them before I look to the loan market. I think that's the important thing that I have a close knit 18 or 19 players that know that that is the squad and if anything else happens, I can go elsewhere.

On Tuesday, Wayne Allison came in. We just split it up. I took the defenders, Chris took the midfielders and Wayne came in and did a bit of work with the strikers. All the players, to be fair, said that my session was the best. It just gives them a different voice and it's specialised. I like to split them up and I think that defenders should defend at least once a week, have a session where they learn how to defend and the same applies all the way through. It's something we're going to do in the future and I might mix it around. We've all got opinions on how strikers should play and defenders should play so we'll have a look at it.

We had an outdoor swimming session on Monday which was good. It's different and I did it as a coach at Rotherham. I was a youth coach and my YTs were playing Saturday, off Sunday and had college all day Monday. It annoyed me that I was in, helping with the first team and they were off. I decided I'd bring in them in at quarter to eight on a Monday morning, every Monday morning and we'd go swimming for an hour before they went to college. It was really good and I had a swimming coach in to teach them how to swim properly. Their fitness levels, which were the main thing, went through the roof. It was really good on the back of pre-season and we added that into it and it worked really well. It's really hard work but you can make it as hard as you like or as enjoyable as you like. You just add different things into it and the feedback from the players over the few years I've done it has been good. That's important because they'll tell you whether it's good or rubbish. I did it with the pros at Rotherham and we didn't do it all the time with the pros but those that liked it kept it on and did it themselves and they all say that it was fantastic.