John Sheran reckons Cove Rangers have got their business done early as they prepare for life in League 2.
The Highland League champions, promoted to the SPFL last month, are not expecting a busy summer of activity after tying down the majority of their squad for the new season.
Jamie Redman, the former Peterhead midfielder, rejoined his first club from Montrose this week, while Alan Redford and Martin Scott have both signed new contracts. The remainder of the team is under contract for the new season.
Cove are still looking to add in the attacking areas and have enquired about Peterhead striker Shane Sutherland, who has been transfer-listed by the League 1 club.
Sheran said: “We always had it in mind that if we got promoted, we would go for Jamie. We got a lot of guys re-signed at the end of the season – Alan Redford, Martin Scott, Hamish Macleod – so we had our house in order pretty early. We’re looking a bit more in the attacking side of things and there may be someone going out the other way.
“We’ve got a strong squad and if we bring someone in, they need to be better than what we have now. We need to bear that in mind.
“We made an enquiry about Shane but have done nothing more than that. We need to see what Peterhead are looking for. We tried to get him in January and we’d still be interested now. We need to see if Shane is in a position to travel through to Aberdeen twice a week. We need to agree a fee with Peterhead first before we speak to Shane.”
Cove will start their competitive season away to Peterhead on July 13 in the Betfred Cup, with Caley Thistle, Raith Rovers and Dundee completing the group. They faced both Inverness and Raith in last year’s competition.
Sheran added: “We were hopeful we might have got Dundee away and Peterhead at home. But Peterhead as the first game of the season is fantastic, particularly for the boys that have connections with them. We played Inverness and Raith Rovers last year too. We have three other games and then the Betfred Cup games to make sure the players are ready for the season starting in August.”
Sheran is continuing his rehab after suffering a heart attack two months ago and remains in regular contact with those at the club.
He said: “I’m speaking to Keith Moorhouse and Graeme (Mathieson) every other day and had a number of discussions with Jamie Redman to get him tied up. I’m going about it in a normal way without doing too much.”