Neal Ardley believes Notts County’s aggressive recruitment drive in the build-up to Saturday’s National League opener at Eastleigh has given the dressing room a welcome lift.
The Magpies signed six players on Thursday, joining the arrival of Ben Turner on Wednesday afternoon as Ardley bolstered his squad following last weekend’s takeover which saw their transfer embargo lifted.
Dion Kelly-Evans, Ben Turner, Zoumana Bakayogo, Sam Slocombe and Damien McCrory signed, along with Nathan Tyson and Jim O'Brien.
Ardley, though, admits the past few weeks of uncertainty have been hard, with not knowing what would come of the club’s future.
“It’s been a weird, surreal five weeks or so. It’s the not knowing, everyone’s trying to predict what’s going to happen,” he said.
“What was the worst case scenario, best case and that bit was tough. You spent a lot of mental time just trying to wonder where it was all heading.”
Now the takeover by Christoffer and Alexander Reedtz is complete, the Magpies have been able to make their first signings of the summer to give a depleted squad some added quality and depth which will be a positive on the training ground, says the manager.
“I certainly think, starting to look at players and really try to be aggressive is nice.
“Its hard work and I think it’s nice for the players to be able to see the competition coming in, with good players arriving through the door.
“We all knew the squad wasn’t strong enough or good enough, for me and Coxy (Neil Cox, assistant manager) to know there’s going to be some good players to work with and we hopefully should be able to put a competitive team together.
“It’s been a nice week.”
