The spectre of Covid-19 looms large over the Island club’s preparation for their opening salvo away at Bedfont and Feltham, with captain James Querée, Jules Gabbiadini and Paul McCafferty all missing due to testing turn-around times affecting their or their partners’ occupation, given the recommendation to self-isolate on their return. However, Freeman is still taking a strong squad, with latest Bulls signing Arthur Illingworth looking to make his debut.
‘Trying to get a team together has been tough,’ Freeman said. ‘We are not travelling back until Sunday and people aren’t going to get their results before Monday. Some are teachers, some live with teachers, some have got babies, some work with people who are vulnerable, so we are stretched for this one.
‘It’s a big commitment for the players and we’ve got to be fair to them. If people want a break they can have a break – it’s going to be too much to expect lads to go away every Saturday and not be able to do much on a Saturday evening.
‘We’ve just got our fingers crossed that things will start dying down and we can get back to some sort of normality in the football season. It’s just the way it is and we’ve just got to role our sleeves up and crack on.’
Freeman also holds concerns over Bulls’ non-existent pre-season fixture schedule as they attempt to repeat the efforts of 2019/20, which secured promotion before all results were branded null and void.
‘Going into this game, we’ve not been able to have any real preparation at all,’ he said. ‘I know that they [Bedfont] have had about eight friendlies. They’re quite a strong team and they’ve been building for this. We’ve just trained and trained, the players are desperate for a game, and if we do things properly we’re going to be okay but I am expecting it to be tougher, without a doubt.’
