NOTHING usually beats playing games for footballers – certainly not training every day.

But for Alex Gilliead, and the rest of the City squad, this week is different.

The absence of a midweek fixture usually signals a slog at Apperley Bridge with some punishing days on the practice pitches.

You won’t hear anyone complaining at the prospect of wall-to-wall training this week, though.

The arrival of Mark Hughes has put a spring in the step of those in the City dressing room just as much as the fans in the Valley Parade stands who roared his name on Saturday.

The result extended the current slump in form with a fourth successive defeat. But that was on the back of only one session under the Welshman so hardly fair to judge him.

Hughes has talked about the chance to start putting his stamp on his new team this week without any distractions – and the players themselves are excited by the prospect.

“All the lads are looking forward to picking the gaffer’s brain,” said Gilliead. “It will be really interesting to see the type of sessions he puts on.

“Not having a midweek game will do us all the world of good.

“He can really get into us in training how he wants us to play and that’s what we need. We can’t wait to get going with him.”

Chief executive Ryan Sparks had planned to unveil Hughes to the players without warning ahead of last Thursday morning’s session.

But the shock factor at Apperley Bridge was lost to a degree when they caught the breaking news on TV while getting changed.

Still, nobody had anticipated that such an iconic Premier League figure would be rolling up to become the club’s eighth permanent manager in four years.

Gilliead admitted: “It was a surprise to us all when he came in. I don’t think anyone expected it to be such a big name.

“I wouldn’t say there were nerves in the first training session but obviously everyone wants to do well and impress him.

“He’s managed at the top level and him passing on advice and telling us what he wants to do can only help everyone improve.”

A Valley Parade audience of 16,797 to welcome him was the second biggest crowd of the season – only pipped by Oldham’s visit in August for the first home game back with fans after the pandemic.

It was another reminder for Gilliead and Co – not that they needed it – of the pulling power that City still possess if they can find a way to turn the corner once again.

“The first home game of the season against Oldham was similar with the reception but it shows you how massive the fans are for this club.

“When they turn out like that, they create a special atmosphere. It was great walking out to that noise and they stuck behind us throughout the whole game.

“Obviously we’re not giving them the results and we’re not where anyone wants to be in the league at the minute.

“But if the fans keep getting behind us and the gaffer like they have been, then it can only be a positive thing and I'm sure we will start to improve again."

Confidence in the ranks is understandably low given the rut City are in right now. In a miserable record of six defeats out of eight, they have scored only twice in the last six of those.

“You could say that confidence has dropped a bit,” said Gilliead. “We’re making wrong decisions at certain points of games.

“If we were flying with confidence we probably wouldn’t be making those decisions and it would be a different result.

“But we’ve got to keep plugging away and having this full week in training will allow the gaffer to get his ideas across and how we’re going to play to score goals and keep clean sheets.”

Hughes gave the squad a taster of the type of football he is looking for before facing Mansfield and Gilliead is now hungry to learn more.

“We obviously only had two days with him and Friday was more about the game itself," he added.

“He talked about getting on the front foot, being positive on the ball and getting into the box more to score goals.

“The kind of pressing and attacking style he wants will come more this week I’m sure when we’ve got four or five days with him. He didn’t want to overload us with too much straight away.

“The old gaffer used to have us hitting it long into the big man and we sat a bit deep. That's the way he wanted us to play.

"But now from the few ideas the new gaffer has dropped in, he wants to press high and get more on the front foot and at their back four.”