Altrincham FC Director of Football Neil Gibson has provided an update on the club's preparations for the 2026/27 season. Since the final game of the season at Gateshead, it has been an extremely busy period behind the scenes. Neil Gibson, Lee Jones, and I have been working around the clock on recruitment, retention, and preparations for the new season. We are pleased with the progress being made across a number of areas and with how our plans are coming together. Much of the work undertaken at this stage of the summer happens away from the spotlight, but it is an important part of ensuring the club is in the strongest possible position heading into the new campaign. As always, we will only announce signings once everything is fully completed. That means agreements reached, paperwork signed, medicals passed, and, importantly, the players have been in front of the Alty cameras. In my previous update, I spoke about our desire to build a squad capable of playing with the intensity that Neil and Lee demand. We want a team that is aggressive, energetic, and entertaining to watch. We want a style of football that supporters can enjoy and one that puts bums on seats. Very early in the process, we identified the type of players we wanted at the club, both in terms of ability and character. Alongside recruitment, continuity has also been a major focus. Several of the players who have agreed new deals, some of whom have already been announced, are entering what we believe will be the peak years of their careers. As a result, we have made a conscious decision to secure a number of those players on longer-term contracts. That continuity is important. It allows us to build year on year rather than continually starting again each summer. Earlier today, we announced that a number of our young professionals had committed their futures to the club, while Max Beddow signed his first professional contract. They may be the youngest members of the senior squad, but they are every bit as important to our plans as the more experienced players around them. We have worked hard to strengthen the pathway from the Academy into the first team environment and believe it is important that talented young players can see a genuine route into senior football. Developing our own players will always be an important part of the club's strategy and it is pleasing to see that pathway continuing to produce players capable of progressing into the senior squad. We have a clear picture of what we want the squad to look like and remain focused on adding further quality in the weeks ahead. Off the pitch, we have also made some important additions to our football operations team. As announced earlier this month, we were delighted to persuade Kyle Taylor to join us from Liverpool FC as Head of Physical Performance. Although Kyle's official start date was 1 June, he had already prepared individual off-season programmes for every member of the squad before joining. He has hit the ground running and his enthusiasm, positivity, and expertise will be invaluable in helping us to drive performance and achieve our goals.