WEYMOUTH boss Brian Stock has given a fascinating insight into his working week, describing recent efforts in the player market as “time-consuming”.
While Stock, on a two-year full-time contract, would not disclose the number of hours he has committed in 2021, the Terras’ manager has made a number of impressive signings.
Goalkeeper Ethan Ross, defenders Dom Revan and Jacob Mensah, wingers Pierre Fonkeu and Joan Luque plus striker Andy Dallas have all joined the Bob Lucas Stadium in the New Year.
All six men have made an impact with either clean sheets, assists or goals, leaving Stock pleased by his work in bringing the “right” players into the fold.
He told Echosport: “The (board) are very supportive and director of football Paul Maitland has played a key role in helping me, and integrated me into the manager’s role.
“He’s been that go-between to the board which has made it a seamless process.
“Yes, there are a lot of phone calls when you go to the player, the agent and then the board or to Paul.
“Then you repeat that cycle again if you can’t agree, so it can be time consuming.
“It has taken a lot of time in terms of trying to find the right players to bring in. That’s just part of the process, part of the job.
“I knew what I was letting myself in for when I took the role and that’s not all year round. It’s about keeping the squad happy now.”
Stock also addressed the level of planning involved in the managerial hotseat.
“The setup – and it has been for years – is that they train on a Tuesday and Thursday night and play on a Saturday,” he said.
“When you look at the amount of hours you put in to plan, speak to players, agents, physios, that’s almost a whole day of phone calls and arranging things.
“Obviously, we’ve now recruited players that can almost train full-time. The accommodation allows us to recruit players that can all train on a Wednesday.
“We did have a little think about whether it was the right thing to do when sometimes players get back quite late.
“But the structure is good, it’s given us more contact time with the players.
“We put on a warm-down session and a couple of masseurs to make sure the players are getting their soft tissue massaging.
“Basically, looking after the players making sure they’re ready to go again.
“A lot of planning goes into it, but it’s part and parcel of the role.”
He added: “When it comes to a matchday, you’d like to think the majority of your work’s done in the week.
“When it comes to the Saturday, the players are understanding what’s asked of them. If you’re a full-time setup that is definitely what the procedure will be.
“Sometimes we send out stuff for the players to look at in their position.
“But the key detail and one or two tweaks would be done in the changing room.
“We like to think that when it comes to a Thursday session, we’re covering quite a lot of stuff on the opposition and concentrating on one or two things ourselves.”
