Head of Under-23s, Luke Tisdale spoke of the invaluable experience his group will have gained from this past weekend's trip to Scotland.
All players fit to travelled to Scotland this, with Tisdale’s 23s joining the first team set-up.
In previous years when the Sky Blues have been able to fly to Alicante, only a select few of the development side have been able to join Mark Robins group, but this year everyone has travelled north and Tisdale believes this experience will be invaluable.
“We can’t wait to get going again.” Tisdale said.
“I think everyone felt the same during lockdown, it drained everyone a little bit in terms of no football and I think we’re all buzzing again and the trip to Scotland was a good opportunity to continue our progression.
“A couple of the lads went out to Spain last year; Will Bapaga, Jonny Ngandu and Sam McCallum, but this time we’ve brought all the boys and I think it’s only Aaron Evans-Harriott from our group who hasn’t travelled because he has a little injury.
“For them to come away on this trip and be around the first team, that is unbelievable experience for them and hopefully one they will enjoy.”
Over the course of the summer, there have been some new faces join the 23s group, with academy graduates Cian Tyler, Jonny Ngandu, Blaine Rowe and Dan Lafferty four out of the six second year scholars in their group to sign pro deals.
Also, Jay McGrath has joined the Sky Blues from Mickleover aged just 17 and Tisdale discussed what the new faces can bring.
“Cian is the second-year goalkeeper for the under-18s last year and he is one of four 18s which we’ve added into the 23s this year out of a possible of six.
“Blaine Rowe, Jonny Ngandu and Dan Lafferty are the other three and massive credit has to go to the academy once again for the work they do to produce footballers again and again.
“Dan will come in as a third-year scholar and he is one who really struggled with injury during his apprenticeship and luckily we’ve been able to bring him into the group and give him some time to fit in.
“Also, Jay McGrath has come in from Mickleover and he’s played a lot of mens football so he will bring a competitive edge to the group and he looks like he could be a good centre-back.”
The outbreak in Covid-19 across the world not only brought an end to the Sky Blues League One campaign, but also their Under-23s Professional Development season.
So far, there has been no new date confirmed for the 23s for when they can get their new season back underway, however, they continue to train and prepare for when they are given the green light.
“We’ve been back in for a few weeks now and the Sports Science and Medical staff did a great job of keeping everyone ticking over and tracking their runs during lockdown, so we’ve just had a couple of weeks on the balls, getting everyone used to it again and I think they’ve all looked good to be fair.
“We’re still waiting on a confirmed date for when we can resume. We’ve got one date in mind which we are working towards so hopefully we can get some friendlies booked in over the next few weeks and see who and where we can play.
“We’re mirroring the first team schedule at the moment and that’s great for the boys because they get to work every day with he first team players and staff.”