We caught up with John Coleman ahead of Stanley's first friendly in Sligo on Monday followed by the game against French giants Marseille at the AJ Bell Stadium on Thursday.
The Reds have just finished a training camp with the Royal Logistics Corps in Oxford and Coleman is keen to add to his squad, with Joe Pritchard his only signing so far.
Coleman on the new training ground at King George's
“It something we have craved for a long time. It's in its infancy at the moment but I would like to think in three or four years' time it will be a totally different setting, the facilities and pitches will have improved and it's another step forward for us.
“We have been taking steps, some small and some large, in the last four or five years. Andy Holt has come in and tried to get things right. Sometimes it might seem slow to people, certainly me as well, but in the grand scheme of things we have accelerated at a good rate.
“It gives you a base, lets you work longer hours and you can plan your week better.”
Pre-season games at Sligo and against Marseille
“I love games, you want to win games that matter and with points at stake, but I love playing in football matches and trying to win them. We finished off at the army camp with a game and I was still up and down with my emotions, that's the way it should be.
“Our main emphasis at the start of pre-season, when we sat the players down, was we have to build a winning mentality and the players have to strive to do their utmost to win whatever they are competing in. I think we have a decent balance of opposition that will test us for different reasons.”
Army camp
“It went great, the players did a lot of fitness activities, they did military-style training and football-style training, it was generally hard work. There were command tasks and logical problems that the players solved. It was good to see the element of team work which the military rely on and try to foster, they work co-operatively to try and achieve an objective and the harder you work as a team in a football match, the better chance you have of winning so it was a productive few days."
Signings
“It's a priority to get players in but it has to be the right players. I could sign 50 players in the next hour but they wouldn't be the right ones and I have to take my time and do what I always do and try and get the right ones that suit us best.
“We have a couple in training and we have identified a few targets and there are ongoing negotiations with four or five players and four or five clubs. That sometimes takes longer than you would like, especially when you are trying to get players from Premier League or Championship clubs, they historically go back later than us and want to keep them around for a couple of weeks. It's a slow process but if you get the right player, it's worth it in the end.
“One of the priorities is striker and the other is a left back, these are two key areas. We have one or two irons in the fire, who will be exciting for our club.
"We gave got a good core of players but still need to sign eight players and you can only have around five loan players. That's been at the forefront of my mind for probably the last three or four weeks."