Brabin remaining focused on Town as fixtures are released

Town were drawn away to AFC Telford on opening day, in what will be the clubs’ first ever competitive meeting, but Brabin, pictured right, said: “It is what it is. I think we’ve got some good players here and we’ve got to concentrate first and foremost on ourselves.

“That’s not to say we won’t be taking Telford seriously, we will be.

“I think if we perform to what we know we’re capable of, we should be able to play against anyone.”

With the Conference such a northern-based division this season, leaving Hatters facing trips totalling over 6,000 miles, Brabin has tailored his preparation accordingly with a boot camp in Scotland, before a mini-tour to Wales later this month.

He continued: “We’re trying to get plenty of travelling, so the lads are used to it.

“We don’t want to leave any stone unturned and with the travelling, it gives us the chance to vary our opposition too.”

Town also have two high-profile home games against Parma and Gabala, which Brabin felt were to entice supporters along to Kenilworth Road.

He said: “I wanted to try to change pre-season around, make it a bit more appetising for supporters.

“It’s good for the squad too as they just want to play games now.

“I like to get the ball out in pre-season early, but that’s not say we don’t work hard, we do work hard and take everything seriously.”

It could be a much-changed Hatters side that face Telford on August 13 with Zdenek Kroca and Claude Gnakpa joining Jason Walker, Adam Newton, Lloyd Owusu and Luke Graham in leaving the club for pastures new over the close season.

Although Brabin wanted to keep both Gnakpa and Kroca at Town, he always had an inkling they would be on their way.

The boss said: “We were always confident they would want to stay, as both enjoyed playing for the club, but at the end of the day, for whatever reasons, they’ve opted to go to other clubs.

“We sort of had in the back of our minds that we were going to lose Zdenek certainly and I also had in the back of my mind that we would possibly lose Claude as well.

“I think that’s one of the reasons why I got Dean Beckwith and Aaron O’Connor in early.

“That’s not to say that they wouldn’t have strengthened the squad anyway.

“When they became available I thought it was good to act straight away.”

There are plenty of clubs in the Conference who are splashing the cash ahead of the new campaign, none more so than Fleetwood Town, but Brabin didn’t feel that would be necessary with the squad he already has in place.

He added: “You see other clubs making eight, nine or 10 changes, but I don’t think we need to do that.

“We’ve got some good players at the club.”