Walker promises changes in close-season

As the curtain comes down on this year's Carling Premiership campaign with a visit to Glenavon this Saturday (3pm), the Sky Blues boss is already turning his attention to a mammoth summer of team rebuilding and number crunching.

"I believe next season is the big season for me," admitted Walker.

"It's not about giving up or walking away, it's about getting a clean slate for the first time since I've been here to try and build a team, on the back of two disappointing seasons.

"This will be the first time that the legacy of the past will have gone. We have been expending a lot of money of players who haven't been playing for us.

"If I didn't see a way (of making it work) I wouldn't be sitting behind this desk.

"Before a doctor prescribes a cure he has to understand the problem and there is serious work needs done this summer.

"I believe we need four major signings, four men who would give us a different dynamic.

"We need players who have a bit of presence and a bit of physicality which is needed in this league.

"You have to have a certain toughness in this league that digs you out a 1-0 or a 1-1. We don't have that because the majority of our players are inexperienced.

"It's one thing having young players and I like that aspect of it but they need experience in around them – we missed Andy Smith and Darren Lockhart, players who have won league championships, for too many games and you see the frailties in the young players.

"We need to strengthen the spine of the team, to beef it up. You need specialist players for specialist positions.

"We will have a numerically smaller squad of senior players supplemented by the best of the Reserves.

"It will depend how much of the budget we put into the senior players – it's going to be a balancing act.

"At times we came close, we looked as if we could play but we lost our way a bit. Bar maybe a couple of performances, we haven't really lost games by more than one goal.

"Our goals against column is favourable to teams in the top half of the league but we didn't score anywhere near enough.

"We need to be ugly in places which we're not capable of with our current squad. It's against all that I hold dear but we need players to be robust and get stuck in and close games up," added Roy, who will have Mark Surgenor available again after suspension for the trip to Mourneview Park.

Seven Towers Supporters' Club transport for that game leaves Henry Street car park at 1.30pm.

The final Paramount SC table quiz of the season takes place in the Bowling Club this Friday evening, March 30 (8.30pm).

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