Caldwell upbeat ahead of City opener

The Grecians have enjoyed a steady build-up to the new season, but now the real work starts in earnest against a Rotherham side, who were relegated from the Championship at the end of last season.

Under manager Steve Evans, many are predicting The Millers will be among the title favourites this term and Caldwell believes it’s the ideal test for his side to see where they lie moving forward.

“I think everyone is excited,” said Caldwell. “We have prepared extremely well. We decided to do a slightly longer pre-season, which allowed the players time to get their fitness, build relationships - on and off the pitch - and we’ve covered a lot of different things in terms of how we want to work, how we want to behave as a team this season, and it all takes time.

“As a whole we are really happy with how pre-season has gone, but we will find out at 5:30 on Saturday if we are ready, not just for Saturday, but over the course of a ten-month season. This pre-season is in place to set the team up for that and see out the whole ten months. We need to be physically ready for that demanding schedule that is coming.

“I feel we are ready and in a good place but we have to turn up on Saturday - that is players, staff and supporters to show that.”

One blow ahead of the new season was the knee injury to winger Yanic Wildshut during last week’s final friendly win over Eastleigh at St James’ Park.

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Wildschut was due to have a scan this week to assess the full extent of the injury, but Caldwell admitted the initial prognosis was not great.

“Michael [McBride] is a fantastic physio, an experienced physio and when he tells you what it could be, he’s 100% right most of the time. We will wait for the full details of the scan, after which we will give the supporters the time frame and what it looks like.

“Yanic is a great character, respected member of the team and he knows he has our full support in getting him back as soon as we can.”

Also missing will be Sonny Cox and Jay Bird (both knee), whilst Demetri Mitchell is still four to six weeks away as he recovers from a long-term knee injury.

Other than that, Caldwell has plenty of options at his disposal for Rotherham and he’s relishing the challenge they will pose his side first up.

“They are a really strong team who have come down from the Championship and spent a fair bit of money, but they have spent it wisely,” said Caldwell. “They have assembled a really strong squad with a fantastic manager who knows how to get out of this league and win promotion, so I have no doubt they will be one of the favourites.

“I have been there myself when you spend a lot of money in League One and you have to deliver, you have to win. Rotherham are one of those teams this year that have to get success, they have to win the league or get promotion, and that brings a certain pressure.

“I’ve said all along whoever we play at this football club, we have to be competitive and we have to believe we can beat these teams and I think we have a group of players that can do that. We know our identity, we are very clear with that.

“As long as we turn up with that identity, that personality, that we  should not fear any team in this league and we look forward to the challenges of the bigger clubs like Rotherham. The early games we face similar teams, so we are really looking forward to the challenge.”

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