New manager Gavin Dykes is planning a major overhaul of the Ballinamallard squad as he bids to avoid a repeat of the relegation battle that finally came to a successful conclusion last week.
In the second half of the season Ballinamallard had seven regular starters over the age of 30, and while that experience was ultimately enough to carry them to safety, Dykes believes that young fresh legs are required if they are to lift themselves up the table this season.
“I am hoping to bring in six or seven players,” he said. 
“The team definitely needs freshening up and I think it needs a bit of energy and pace. I also want to bring the young players through that are there. It’s very important that there is a pathway for them and pre-season will very much be about having a look. It has always been my philosophy to bring young players through and mix that with some experienced players. I have a lot of connections around the Sligo, Donegal, Mayo areas and I know a lot about the League of Ireland so I will have a look at that and see how it works out. I started a few weeks ago but I couldn’t really do anything until I knew what division we would be playing in, but hopefully now we can get a few in and get value for money. There will be players moving on, but that is football. We are bringing six or seven in so people will have to move on. It’s as simple as that. I think the team needs freshened up a wee bit and we need to go and bring in some energy and pace and hopefully play the right way.”
Ballinamallard’s survival in the Premier League the past four years was built on a tight defence, but scoring goals was often problematic. They averaged just one goal per game last season and were the lowest scorers in the top flight, but Gavin is hoping they can find the net more regularly this season.
“I want to score goals and entertain,” he said. “My philosophy is very simple, I want to play football. I want to play it out from the back and score goals. That is what I will be impressing on the players. I have had three sessions with them and hopefully they will continue to buy in to what I am asking of them. Three draws are only as good as one win, so I think you have to go for it. That is one thing I am fairly strong on. I know it’s very difficult when you are down the bottom because players get nervous and sometimes take the easy option, but I think we need to get the ball into wide areas and put balls into the box and try to create chances. It’s not just up to the centre forward to score goals either. We got three the other night which is what we want. The down side was we conceded three but we can work on that. Everyone will be looking to sign wide players and centre forwards but we have plenty of irons in the fire so hopefully we might come up trumps.”
With Whitey Anderson suspended for the match against Institute it was Gavin making the calls from the side line. The new boss has already identified several areas that he wants to address, and despite his short time at the club he is already having an influence. “We scored a goal from a corner kick that we had worked on, and we scored a goal from a free kick that we had worked on on the Monday night, so that bit of work paid off and sometimes you do get the rewards,” he said. “The first half on Thursday night was not what I wanted. We were hitting long balls and that was not football as far as I was concerned. One thing I said to all the players was that they are not fit enough and they have conceded a lot of late goals. They are going to have to get a lot fitter. We have plenty of expertise at the club in that area and we can’t just bring the players in next week and flog them and flog them. 
“The recovery side of sports science is almost more important than anything else nowadays. They have to look after their bodies a lot better and make sure they are doing the right things. They have to make sure they are properly hydrated from training and proper recovery after matches, and hopefully the players will buy into that. They have to. If they want to prolong their careers they have to do what is right.”
While fitness is key to their success their preparations have been thrown into turmoil following a prolonged campaign that has forced the Mallards to play their final game of the season long after some other teams have started training for the new campaign. 
Gavin acknowledges that will have an impact, but he is confident that the players will still be in peak condition for the season ahead.
“Pre-season is going to be different for them this year,” he admitted. 
“We only finished last Wednesday night and we are going to be back training on Thursday July 7 which then gives us a month before we kick off the first game. 
“We need to work with the people here who are involved in the sports science side of things because we have to make sure we don’t burn them out. It’s no good starting off great and then come eight games in we hit a brick wall because of the way the season has gone.”
Gavin is quick to acknowledge the work of his predecessor Whitey Anderson, and he was keen to maintain a link to the previous regime through the appointment of his coaching staff. 
Club Captain Steve Feeney will have a coaching role in the new set up, with Andy Crawford, who was recently voted the club’s best ever player, also back on board to help the new manager. 
“It’s going to be tough to follow a legend at the club like Whitey who has done great work,” admitted Gavin, who is looking forward to the challenge. 
“What has attracted me to the club I suppose was that I see it as a club with huge potential and there is a fantastic youth structure. We have to try to bring some of those youth players forward. Potentially it’s a really, really good club. It is well structured and the people running it are really impressive.”
Gavin accepted the manager’s role when the club was still unsure of where they would be playing their football next season and as the play off second leg entered injury time it looked as though his first task would be to get the Mallards out of the Championship, but their equalising goal in the final seconds of the game has transformed how he will approach the new campaign. “It was a massive goal,” he acknowledged. “When I spoke to the club about the job the first question they asked me was ‘what difference would it make if we went down’ and I said it won’t make a difference to whether I take the job, but it will make a difference to the budget and the players we can attract.
 “Obviously that goal was massively important for everybody at this club, but that is done now and we have to move on. Hopefully we can get a team that can go out there and play good football.”