We spoke to Mike Williamson ahead of Saturday’s game against MK Dons.
“We’ve obviously just come through a busy period so it's been nice to have a week where we can really concentrate and focus on the work.
“It's been a tricky week to find pitches to train on. We’ve spent a lot of time in the media room just looking at our last performance and reflecting back on that. Everywhere is frozen, even the 4G’s, so we’ve have to be creative. The lads have been in the gym and the Neil Centre.
“The pitch is covered, the temperature looks like it's dropping and we're hopeful, the sun's out at the minute and there's a deep freeze coming in the next couple of days.”
Plans for the MK Dons game will continue as normal, and we asked Mike about playing his former club: “We expect it to be a very combative game.
“I think they will be really aggressive. They'll go man for man all over the pitch. We've got to make sure that we're clean with what we do and we match their intensity. We've got to be connected as well because in possession they've got good players, and we need to be really focused with that.
“I think both sides obviously know each other very well. So it's going to be the tactical element of that, but ultimately it's just going to be a real good challenge for us. They're going to come here and they want to continue the way that it's going on. But for us we focus on ourselves and we're looking forward to it.”
Mike attended his first Fans’ Forum on Tuesday evening, and we asked him how he found that: “Strangely enough I really enjoy that, but not so much doing interviews, and that's me just being brutally honest. When you engage and you speak to fans, I thoroughly enjoy it.
“Obviously everyone's spoken and tried to make things as clear as possible. But we've got to back that up on the pitch now.”
During the Fans’ Forum, chairman Tom Piatak spoke on Mike’s position: “From my point of view that hasn't changed. It hasn't wavered one little bit from the first conversation we had from the start, to last night to this morning. We have very regular conversations.
“I think he showed how much hurt and frustration and disappointment being in this situation. And we're all trying to take accountability every day that we live this.
“We live it every single day. Waking up every single morning, and as Tom alluded to, sometimes through the night you're waking up and you're trying to figure things out and make things clear.
“For me the messages have always been the same. And I've just got to focus on what I can control. And that's making it as clear as possible and trying to improve the team. We all know we're in a tough situation. But everybody believes that we've got what we need to get out of it, and the new players will help towards that.
“The boys have been brilliant in terms of their application and their desire to really buy in and understand it. But we're in a tough position and there's a lot of frailty there.
“When things go against us it's really noticeable. So we're hoping that with the work we're doing on and off the field and the new lads coming in that will be the difference.”
Sporting director Rob Clarkson spoke at the Tuesday forum about further potential signings, and Mike commented: “Rob is working incredibly hard. We've just come out of meetings there about things.
“For me it's certainly still got to be the right profiles. Players aren’t walking into any ordinary situation here. So we've got to be really confident that on and off the field they'll be able to cope with that and the pressure, but we're optimistic.”
We also asked Mike about the potential of current players leaving the club: “That's more Rob's area but I know he's been on the phone constantly. I think there's two or three lads that I know that have got a lot of interest. But again it's a transitional period.
“People at the minute don't really know where the dust is going to settle. So there's many, many things going on. And until we can work through it and we can get who we want through the door then I think it'll be a lot more clear.”
Mike also confirmed Tyler Burey’s contract won’t be extended: “We're not going to be renewing Tyler’s contract but he wants to continue training and keep his sharpness for his own benefit.
“It's similar to Ben. We want to thank them for everything they've done after coming in. They've given us 100 per cent, but that's going to come to an end.”
Work is still ongoing to extend Kadeem Harris’ contract which finishes at the end of January, Mike confirmed: “Again, it's down to Rob. Obviously I want to tell Kads every day how much we love him and how much we want him here. But ultimately there's many different factors to it, but I hope we're making progress.”
Onto injuries, Mike first spoke on Terell Thomas: “He's back included in a lot of the sessions. But I still think he's two to three weeks away.
“It’s frustrating because he looks sharp, but it’s good because he's in and around the boys and he's building himself up.
“JJ [Jordan Jones] is pushing himself to every extent of being involved. He's been involved in yesterday's session and then in today's session.
“I think it's just about his pain tolerance which in this situation is determining he's going through everything he possibly can.
“Ethan Robson is involved in training, but I think he's a little bit further away. It'll be a little bit of a slower burn with Ethan. But he's obviously just got to make sure it's right.
“Harry Lewis is back in full training now. We’re still working with Archie, we're looking at I think four or five weeks. Possibly less than that, I might have over exaggerated, but he's back. It's just the contact I think he's got to be careful of.
“In terms of all of the football and the technical fitness side, he's back involved.
“Dom has picked up a knock. So he's not been involved and we're still waiting on scan results to see the extent of that.
“I think Cal [Guy] has hopefully turned a bit of a corner. So hopefully we'll be seeing him sooner rather than later.”
Finally, on the togetherness needed from everyone going forward, Mike said: “It’s huge. I think the closer everyone is and is aligned, the stronger we are.
“I think that's when football clubs are at their very best. It's up to us now to win football matches. It's about making sure we stick together and build something that we're really proud of and that's special.”
