Bluebirds boss Mark Cooper returns with another update for supporters, including his reaction to the arrival of Josh Gordon and Remeao Hutton.
Hello everyone and welcome to my second Blog here on the Official Website.
I hope you’ve all been enjoying some of the good weather of late and hopefully you’re feeling encouraged by the work the Club is doing on and off the pitch in preparation for next season.
We got another couple of deals over the line on Wednesday when Remeao Hutton and Josh Gordon both put pen to paper on their contracts and agreed to join us – and I am really pleased to add them to the squad.
Remeao was the first player I spoke to after I was given the job at Barrow; he’s a player that I was interested in taking to Forest Green last season. He is young, hungry, has got the potential for lots of development and is just going to be a good player for us.
He’s the modern day full-back or wing-back who will get forward to good effect and put in some dangerous crosses – and he can also throw it from one end of the pitch to the other! He’s just a good, young player and I am really looking forward to working with him and hopefully improving him.
We also managed to tie up a deal to bring Josh Gordon to the Club from Walsall. He’s a player who I think Burton Albion tried to sign when they were in the Championship so he’s got great ability and is another I am really looking forward to working with.
It will be bonus that he’s on my side this season because every time he’s played against me in the past he seems to have scored! He’s a very quick and exciting player and I think our fans are really going to take to him. I definitely believe he can score lots of goals and hopefully he can do that in our team because every time I have seen him he’s been excellent.
I also think it’s a good move for Josh at the right time in his career. He obviously got his move to Leicester City and then on to Walsall, but he just had a bit of a setback on the injury front last year so joining us at Barrow gives him the platform to bounce back strongly.
As ever, the work continues behind the scenes. As I have said from the start, we’re trying to be selective in our recruitment and not rush into anything. We know the positions we need to strengthen – we’re aware we need a centre-back and maybe another midfield player, so those efforts are still ongoing.
The fixtures for the 2021/22 season come out a week today and I think when you see those in black and white the new campaign always becomes more tangible. I know the fans will be excited to see who we get on the first and last days and where we are over Christmas, so we’ll see what’s what and then we’ll be able to put preparations in place.
Away from The Bluebirds, I think we’ll all be looking forward to the England game on Friday night when we’re taking on Scotland at Wembley. I do feel confident we’ll win the game, and I will make sure to watch it.
Having said that, I have to be honest, when I saw the team for the Croatia game on Sunday, I wasn’t sure if I wanted to watch that! I am a massive fan of Jack Grealish and players like him, so with him on the bench and Trippier playing left-back I was, like, “wow!” That’s why Gareth Southgate is the Manager of England and nobody else, because he knows exactly what he’s doing so fair play to him. Let’s hope we can get another positive result on Friday night.
Enjoy it.
Mark.