Baraclough pleased with pre-season preparations

With the clock ticking down to the beginning of the 2014 League of Ireland season, time is very quickly running out for teams still trying to sign players. And Sligo Rovers manager Ian Baraclough confirmed yesterday that the 2013 FAI Cup winners will be hoping to acquire one more player in the next few hours, before the deadline to sign contracted players.

Keeping his cards close to his chest, Baraclough wouldn’t give away much detail, but hinted that the new signing may not be Hartlepool United’s Greg Rutherford, who impressed when he played for Rovers on trial against Galway FC on Tuesday.

‘Having spoken to the football club, they were allowing him to come out on loan. But today, it's looking like it's not going to go ahead.

‘I've made a quick call on it. It is a busy period. No-one's sitting in the Sky studio with a yellow tie on, but there is something else that should be happening later on today. Not necessarily with him. There is one definitely in the next 24 hours. He'll be a forward thinking player’, he said.

Despite the Irish weather getting in the way of pre-season friendlies for many League of Ireland teams, Sligo Rovers have only had one game cancelled. And Baraclough says they are where he wants to be regarding their pre-season schedule.

‘We've done our best with regards to what the weather brings. We've managed to train every day that we wanted to train. We've only missed one game - the Longford game here - we would have liked another game at home. Derry have had three or four games postponed. I don't think we're in a bad place at all. It was always part of the plan that the first leg against Crusaders would be part of pre-season and the St. Pat's President's Cup game.’

There have been a lot of changes at The Showgrounds this season. Many of last year’s crop have left and familiar faces John Russell and Richard Brush have returned, while Paul O’Conor, Danny Ledwith, Kalen Spillane and Eric Odhiambo have all joined. And Baraclough is thrilled with how his new additions have fit into the squad.

‘They've all gone and shown that they can add something to the squad. Two of the lads have been here before so we know about them. Kalen, a left-footed centre half with a good size about him, and a good age, it will probably be good for him to get out of his home town and take him out of his comfort zone.

“Danny Ledwith has a good left foot and brings good competition in that area. Can play one up as well. Paul O'Conor has grown since I've been here as a player. A good grouding at UCD is similar to the way we want to play here. And Eric Odhiambo again, he was here in July last year, we couldn't make that happened. We managed to keep tabs on him and managed to get him here. He's a different player to the others. He will only enhance what we have going forward.”

While St. Patrick’s Athletic will be the favourites for many to win the 2014 league, Baraclough feels that there are six or seven teams who could challenge, and is confident that the League of Ireland is getting stronger.

“A couple of stellar signings in Keith Fahey and Stephen McPhail highlights that the league is getting stronger. There will be one or two saying that it's lost its star players from years gone by. I don't agree.

“The two years I've been here have been of decent quality. I went back to England in November and I saw a hell of a lot of League One, League Two and Conference games and I saw some real bad League Two games. The top two in this league could go on and play in that division, even the top four. Players like Fahey and McPhail haven't come here just to finish off their careers in an easy fashion. That just shows you that they could look at this level and that it will be tough for them. Anyone who says otherwise is doing the league a disservice. I think the league is getting stronger.”