Aidy Boothroyd has again played down expectations for the coming season, with the Northampton Town boss insisting that there should be no talk of promotion just yet.
The Cobblers are preparing for their fourth season in League Two since being relegated at the end of the 2008/09 campaign, having struggled to get out of the division.
Indeed, 2011/12 saw them battling to avoid relegation to the Blue Square Bet Premier, with Boothroyd replacing Gary Johnson as manager last November.
They eventually finished 20th and four points clear of the drop zone, and Boothroyd’s immediate aim is to ensure that Northampton are not drawn into another dog fight at the wrong end of the table.
"If you look at our past five years it wouldn't exactly fill anyone with hope, so I don't think we should be getting over-excited,” he said.
“I think if we finish better than last year then everyone will be pleased, but football being what it is, at this time of the year there are no games, we're all unbeaten as managers and we all think we've got a chance.
“My aim from day one was to first of all make sure that we didn't get relegated, and everyone at the club - players and staff - worked hard to make sure we didn't.
“We now start again with not too many players that were here at the start of last season, which tells a lot about the turnover of players.
“I won't be making any bold predictions and I'll be making sure that we use the next five weeks to get as fit, organised and as prepared as we can for what will be a tough campaign, because everyone thinks they can do well."
The Cobblers squad have recently returned from Croatia, where they were put through a rigorous week-long training camp that consisted of early morning starts and four sessions a day.
Boothroyd declared the trip a success and believes that it will stand them in good stead when the new League Two season kicks off away to Rochdale on Saturday August 18.
He said: "The whole point of a training camp like that is to work them hard, but I think you get more out of people in any life when they enjoy what they're doing. We work hard as a staff to make sure that it is enjoyable and relevant to what we do.
“There have not been many lung-busting runs up hills or anything, it has all been football-based and gym-based, so I think they've got plenty out of it and they're feeling the benefits.
"When you're training four times a day and getting up at half past six in the morning, I think there are a lot of things we can take and bring back here. It has certainly got people mentally alert and ready to go."
Before then though, Northampton have five pre-season friendlies, starting this Saturday away to Corby Town, who are now managed by Cobblers legend Ian Sampson.
Town already had one run-out behind closed doors while in Croatia, running out 6-1 winners over local third tier side Novigrad.
That match saw two different 11’s line up in the first and second half, and Boothroyd expects that to continue for the match against Corby.
He said: "I always set out with a plan and generally, because of the way pre-season is with people getting muscle soreness and games coming quickly, you've got to be quite flexible in what you do.
“We'll start off by getting most of the players 45 minutes, we'll look to build on that to go to 60, 70 and 90, and by the end of that we should have a group that have pretty much all played.
"I've got a couple of things in mind that I want to see. Now is the time where you do work on things like that.
“These are really difficult games because the teams that we are playing against, particularly the non-league teams, have got a point to prove and generally they'll fight harder than a team above you might."
