The five-day trip to Austria, and the earlier pre-season friendly matches, will be a chance for the coaches to reiterate their plans, and for the players to show they have taken on board what has been worked upon so far.

Head coach Rob Edwards also stressed that he would urge fans not to read much into who plays in the early friendlies, or the result of the games.

“It’s about togetherness at the moment,” he said. “In Austria we will have five days or so as a group to get to know each other even better. The players get time as a unit and this helps build strong bonds.

“As for the friendlies, it’s really for us to see if the players are taking on board what we want to do, what we’re asking of them, is it working well? Everything is about being ready for August 1.

“In these pre-season games, performance is the key. I’m looking at players’ attitudes and if they are trying to do the things we’ve worked on.

“So far in training it’s obvious the players are totally buying in to what we are asking of them. If they live every day by what we are saying then you should be able to take that into games as you know no other way.

“I think, in these early games, people shouldn’t ready too much into line-ups or scorelines. We’ll be trying to put the players in the best position on the pitch for them to be the best they can. That’s common sense. But these early games are about giving players an opportunity to show us what they’re about and get some game time under their belts.

“As pre-season progresses then you start to look more towards what you think the team is going to be.”

As the squad head abroad with Vakoun Bayo likely to be the only new signing so far, is there any concern that every day that goes by is a day less for new players to settle in?

“Clearly you do lose a bit of time if you bring players in a bit later,” said Edwards. “But I’ve said before I would rather be patient in bring in the exact players we want.

“It’s a long season, and the players we bring in have to fit into how we want to play. We’re not going to set up to play a certain way and then bring someone in all of sudden that doesn’t fit into our system.

“When we bring people in they will be players that fit, that we want, and that will hit the ground running.”

With so much attention on potential new blood, the arrival of a new head coach, new way of playing, new approach and fresh ideas – especially from a relatively young coach – means players have a chance to show themselves in a different light.

“The players here now have shown a great attitude and a real hunger,” said Edwards. “Their response to what we want to do has been outstanding. This a new chapter for all those players. Us coming here means a fresh start with fresh ideas and hopefully a new environment for them to thrive.

“Last season was really tough and football is never plain sailing. But we have to think forward, and focus on what we want to do next and I think we have a lot of good players who can help us.”

A new face to the camp has been 6ft 7in keeper Maduka Okoye, who signed for the club from Sparta Rotterdam in January but was immediately loaned back.

“He’s a giant and a really lovely guy too,” said Edwards. “He speaks well and is very affable, a great personality. He’s worked really well in training and has a first-class attitude. He’s got all the tools as a goalkeeper and we have that competition we need in that area of the pitch.

“He’s a young goalkeeper but already has a lot of game time. I can liken it to myself really: I’m a young coach with good experiences. We never stop learning though and that’ll be the same for him. The reason he’s here at the club in the first place is because we think a lot of him.”