NIGEL BRINGS A NEW LOOK

The former Glentoran coach, who arrived at the club alongside player/manager Gary Hamilton, is looking to put his own stamp on Glenavon’s training sessions, particularly during pre-season, and supporters could get their chance to see what’s going on, although a date has yet to be confirmed.

“At the AGM, I could sense that there is an air of positivity about the club, matched with realism as to what can be achieved this season,” said Law.

“We’ve got our new kit and training gear coming in and people seem to be acknowledging that it’s a fresh start for the club now.

“We’re looking to give supporters an opportunity to come down and watch a training session during pre-season so that people can see our sessions, the intensity that we want the players to be working at and to see what we do.

“People always ask me how well we train the players. I would say that we try to educate the players, prepare them and develop them as opposed to a banal term such as training them.

“We look to prepare and develop the players, increase their understanding, optimise their physical condition so they can give their best for Glenavon and also to challenge them.”

Law’s sessions will have a somewhat different look to previous seasons, as he looks to bring a new approach to the traditionally gruelling experience of pre-season training.

“The ideas we’re looking to bring to pre-season will be unique compared to what the club are maybe used to,” he told the ‘MAIL.’

“Our pre-season will be very game-related. The aim will be conditioning the players for the season but also preparing them technically and tactically and getting the organisation of the team right.

“Pre-season has maybe been different in the past and that technical aspect has been missing. Traditionally, pre-season has been about fatiguing players into the ground but we want to bring in the modern philosophy of, yes preparing players for the rigours of the season, but also of laying down a basis of injury prevention and recovery.

“We’ll be looking to re-create a match situation in our training sessions and prepare players for 90 minutes but also instil our technical ideas in them. We also want to integrate a strong mental attitude into the players, which we have perhaps been lacking.

“It’s a total approach that we want to bring to pre-season, integrating all elements, not just running and fitness.”

Law, still just 26, had to give up his own footballing career at a young age but is now looking to make his mark on the pitch by instilling a diligent but creative playing style in Glenavon’s players.

“Another big thing we noticed when coming into the club was that there was a lack of culture, identity or playing style,” he said.

“We want to place an emphasis on working hard when we don’t have the ball. It’s difficult to control a game without the ball and so we need to work on getting it back as quickly as possible when we lose it.

“We need to put the other team under pressure when we haven’t got the ball and if we can work with greater intensity and put teams under more pressure then we should get more possession.

“If we can do that, with the players that we have, we have a license to play. That will always be done with a tactical organisation and will be underpinned by our work-rate in getting the ball back. We can then play with movement, rotation, support and with a good tempo. We want the players to express themselves and show the creativity that they have in the final third. We have so many good players that if we can get hold of the ball, we’ll hurt teams and we will score goals.

“We all back ourselves in this. Gary (Hamilton) has some great ideas as regards to playing styles going forward. He understands the jobs that myself and Paul Millar have to do and we all know that organisation is the key.”

All as part of that organisation, Law has organised for video analysis of Glenavon’s matches in order to aid the team’s improvement by allowing greater scrutiny into their performances.

He said: “We have a sports analysis guy who is going to trial some software with us at the Millwall game and, providing that goes well, we then have someone internally who is going to be recording the games for us and providing some analysis on them.”