Paul Maitland assures fans of changes

TERRAS’ director of football Paul Maitland insists Weymouth are working on a number of different fronts to turn around the club’s fortunes.

Maitland, speaking in a near three-hour question and answer session, explained to fans the changes and plans lined up as Weymouth plot a course up the Vanarama National League table.

Brian Stock’s men are 21st of 23 teams, but are already six points adrift of fellow promoted side King’s Lynn in 20th having played twice more.

Speaking to Terras’ club commentator Ben Ashelford, Maitland outlined the improvements supporters can expect to see.

He said: “What changes are we planning to do?

“One of those things is to bring some housing in, or accommodation, so we can bring players in from further afield.

“It’s not just that. Our aim is to have additional training with a core of the players that can.

“We can’t just flip from a part-time structure to full-time, particularly mid-season.

“Actually, part-time contracts are different from full-time contracts and we’d end up recruiting a lot of players.

“What we’re aiming to try and do is get to a point where we can work with a core of the squad more than a Tuesday and Thursday night.

“It’s important to stress contact time, if we don’t have a Tuesday fixture, is for two hours on a Thursday night.

“That’s not to say we don’t do other things with them. The players have programmes that we can monitor through an app that we use so we can see they’ve done their gym work, their recovery work.”

He added: “We use a cryochamber in Poole which we take advantage of. They’ve been really good with us and given us a discounted rate.

“If we’re playing on a Tuesday, we will take a group of players on a Sunday morning. They’ll get a frozen chamber and they’re not in there for too long.

“It helps with recoveries of injuries or fatigue, which is massive for us. It’s not like we can come in on a Monday and have a recovery day – we don’t do that.

“So, wherever we can make marginal gains we try to. We’ve been implementing those sorts of things.”

Potential new signings will also be able to use the Terras’ accommodation – which is multi-purpose with space for workouts.

“Gyms are shut now and the accommodation we’ve got has got a room that can be used for a gym facility,” Maitland said.

“We’ve managed to get hold of some weights and other bits and pieces to go in there so the players that are in that accommodation can use that.

“The only way that (the club) can physically treat the players is to do it in the ground or in a cold corridor at (Blandford School) because the gyms are shut now.

“I don’t want to blame Covid, but the restrictions on us have made all the things we’ve put in place difficult to maintain.

“It’s had to be an ever-evolving plan to how we can progress and improve.”

Weymouth are actively trying to lure players in, with Maitland admitting the Terras’ first-choice XI is a work in progress.

He said: “I know we’re coming up to mid-January and I’m not going to pretend our position in the league is where we want to be – of course it’s not.

“We’ve not played half the games – nowhere near half.

“I don’t think we’re in a position where Brian knows arguably his strongest team. We’re in the midst of trying to recruit.

“Now we have this accommodation we’re able to go further afield and we’ve been able to reinvest the fee we got from Tom Whelan and other money that’s been made available.

“We’ve been given some money to strengthen with the aim of staying in the National League.

“That’s something we’ll be trying to do until the day comes where we can’t.”

*Weymouth’s game against Solihull Moors on Tuesday has been postponed for a second time due to Covid-19 protocols. The Terras are yet to agree a date for fulfilment of the fixture.