GRANT Joshua admits he wanted to ‘transform the culture’ of Rugby Town during his first pre-season in charge of the club.
Valley received a belated reprieve from relegation ahead of the 2025/26 campaign following Joshua’s appointment as manager.
The club have played six pre-season fixtures ahead of the new season with Joshua keen to bed in a number of new signings.
And Valley won four, drew one and lost one of their six matches which included big victories against Walsall Wood and Bedworth United.
Joshua feels his side have performed well during pre-season and praised the efforts of the club’s fans to support a new-look squad.
Joshua said: “The main aim in when I joined was to totally transform the culture of the football club.
“Results in pre-season are irrelevant but performances aren’t and I am pleased with what we’ve seen in our six games.
“The support at Redditch was incredible – it was unlike anything I’ve seen from an away following at our level.
“We have a group that care about the football club and the supporters can see that and we now need to take this into the competitive season.
“Plugging these two together only makes us stronger.”
Rugby begin the competitive season with a trip to Midland Football League Premier Division side Coton Green in the FA Cup this weekend.
And Joshua anticipates a tough test against the newly-promoted side.
Joshua added: “I fully expect [the game] to turn into a difficult and tricky tie to navigate through
“I have huge respect for what they’ve done there – a fantastic management group who know what they’re doing and they have some players who can win games in moments.
“So this game, like every one we go into, has my full attention.
“I urge our supporters to make this game feel like a home game – see you at Coton Green.”
Rugby begin the season with a trip to Coton Green in the FA Cup extra preliminary round on Saturday, August 2 with kick-off at 3pm at New Mill Lane.
