Dave McNabb has spoken of his plans and expectations for his team during pre-season. The Shakers will play their first friendly away at Atherton LR next Saturday. With the squad already back in training ahead of the 2025/26 season, the manager was in bullish mood.
“It’s started really well,” he explained. “The lads have come back in really good condition physically.
We’ve tested them a few times in terms of the physical output. [They are] looking really good, really strong.”
The Shakers were crowned champions of the NWCFL Premier Division in April after finishing the season with 15 consecutive wins.
Promotion to the Northern Premier League West Division was sealed with a 4-0 victory over Burscough in front of almost 9,000 fans at Gigg Lane.
As well as retaining the majority of his title-winning team, McNabb has added six new signings over the summer break.
“The number one priority of the summer was to make sure we retained the majority of that team,” he said.
“I think we’ve retained 13, 14 players, so the vast majority of the squad has managed to stay.
“That’s really important. It means we’ve got that togetherness already built into the group. Our way of playing, our style, our philosophy, it’s already embedded well within those group of players.
“In terms of the new players coming through the door, what we’ve tried to look for is recruiting around profiles and players who fit into the system and the way we want to play. It gives us some different options and different types of players as well.
“If you look at the squad now, particularly with the new lads coming in, the majority of them have played step three, step two, so [they have] really good experience. Young players coming through the door as well with plenty of areas to improve and plenty of improvement left in them.
“We’ve got a position now where we’ve probably got two players for almost every position. [We’re] looking really strong and really comfortable with where we are and there’s probably still maybe one, maybe possibly two, to come.”
Speaking about what he expects from his players over pre-season, McNabb said: “It’s about making sure we’ve got the tactics, the principles, the way we want to play both in and out of possession.
“That’s got to be really clear, it’s got to be everything from day one. Minutes in the legs are important, and results probably after those two.”
He added: “We obviously want to try and pick up wins, and make sure we ride the crest of the wave from last season and try and take that good form into the start of next season.
“We are not going to do that if we lose eight out of eight friendly games. Results are obviously important, but they are not the be-all and end-all in pre-season.”
Pre-season will see us take on National League North sides Chester (July 12), Buxton (July 19) and Radcliffe (July 26), while Shakers legend Ryan Lowe is set to bring a Wigan Athletic XI to Gigg Lane (July 29).
We’ll face two sides from the NWCFL as well, Ashton Athletic (July 15) and Cheadle Town (July 22).
“We’ve got some really tough opponents this year,” McNabb said. “It’s a much tougher pre-season than what it was last year.
“We’ll try and win each game, we’ll try and set up and make sure that the output is there. That’s the key.”
On Saturday, hundreds of supporters descended on Gigg Lane for the annual family fun day, which included an open training session from the first team.
“Saturday was brilliant,” said McNabb. “A couple of the new players mentioned that they had more fans watching them train than they have at previous clubs.
“It’s unique and we know how special this club is. I hope the fans are ready and raring to go because we certainly are.”
Click here to view our full pre-season fixture list.
Our pricing for pre-season will be Adults £8, Under 16s £3, but for 2025/26 season ticket holders, prices will be Adults £5, Under 16s £2.
Season Ticket holders who purchase before June 30th will be able to purchase exclusive discounted online tickets for these fixtures, which will be made available on July 1st.
Supporters can also pay on the gate, but the discounted rate won’t be available.
Exclusive discounts will also be available in our 1885 Suite for the games against Chester & Wigan Athletic – more to follow.