MATT Bloomfield has told his Colchester United players they will be given a clean slate following his arrival as head coach.
The U's currently have a big first-team squad, boosted by the arrival of a number of players in the final days of the summer transfer window.
Bloomfield made ten changes for Colchester's Papa Johns Trophy clash with Charlton Athletic, on Tuesday.
U's players are looking to impress their new boss and Bloomfield insists he will not judge them on what has happened in the past.
Bloomfield said: “Is it a clean slate for the whole squad? Of course, most certainly.
“It’s only right and proper to give a clean slate for everyone.
“We’ve got plenty of games coming up in October and there’s going to be plenty of minutes for everyone to play in.
“You can see what evidence the players provide in front of you and make judgements off the back of it.
“I don’t think it’s right to judge players off previous games, or previous years.
“I’ve watched the last few games to try and get a little bit of a basis of knowledge of how they’ve been going about things.
“But I think it’s a clean slate for everybody and I’m looking forward to see what everyone has got and making some judgements off the back of it.
“Unfortunately, for any football head coach or manager you can only pick XI and there’s a big squad here at Colchester United.
“But it provides lots of opportunities and variations and I’ll be looking into all of that and keeping an open mind."
Bloomfield chalked up his first win as Colchester head coach in midweek, leading them to victory over Charlton Athletic in the Papa Johns Trophy group stages.
The U's 2-1 victory over their League One opponents was their first in five matches in all competitions and the new boss hopes it will give his players a boost, ahead of their key home clash with Harrogate Town on Saturday.
Bloomfield added: “I hope this will do a great deal for confidence.
“I’m hoping it will give us a little bit of impetus and energy and help preparations for the weekend.
“I was really pleased with the response the boys gave me on Saturday.
“Training was positive; there was energy and good noise in the training ground (on Monday), all the things that I’ve asked the boys for and they’ve done that so far.
“We’re obviously hoping that results will help feed that confidence and help feed that energy and there’s no reason why it shouldn’t.
“It’s not easy to try and preach confidence and belief when you’ve been used to losing games but it doesn’t mean you’re bad players or bad people – it’s just a human natural reaction."
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