Rotherham United boss Paul Warne says he is happy to have confirmed all of the friendlies that his side will play on English soil confirmed after months of planning behind the scenes.
The Millers’ manager will look to fine-tune his 2017/18 squad using a number of fixtures against clubs from different levels including the likes of Sheffield United, Gainsborough Trinity and Parkgate, while the club will travel for a pre-season training camp in Austria on the 9th July.
After the announcement of the clash with Barnsley on 29th July, Warne expressed his delight at finalising their opposition, as attentions turn to the new campaign in League One.
“We've got all the games we want and we've got a couple of good home games that will be competitive,” he told www.themillers.co.uk.
“As always you have a few non-league games to get your patterns in, so I'm pretty happy with pre-season and I organised it a long time ago so I'm really pleased to have got all the confirmation.
“We're taking a team to Austria and we'll have a couple of games out there so my pre-season planning has been good.”
The former fitness coach has placed emphasis on ensuring his side come back in prime condition and ready for some rigorous pre-season testing and admits he will be looking to ensure his squad are both physically and mentally prepared for the new season.
“I like hard graft and I think Richie and Hammy are both the same in that they work long hours for us and we expect the same from the players that we're trying to sign,” Warne continued.
“I don't just want them to be physically fit, I want them to be mentally resilient and sometimes you have to break them down a little bit to get that, so that's what we're trying to do in the summer and we want to put together a group that wants to go out and win every game of football that they play in.
“I know the training will be tough, but it will be football-based so I'll use pre-season to get two formations of play firmly into them which will be the way I want to play and everyone will be under the same umbrella for 'Plan A' and 'Plan B'.”
Warne continued to express his keenness to have the majority of his next season’s squad assembled ahead of the Millers departing for Austria in July and insists work is continuing behind the scenes to bring targets to AESSEAL New York Stadium.
“I know there's a lot of movement in our squad yet and there's a couple possibly to leave but in an ideal world I'd take around a 22 man squad out to Austria, all of whom, will be here to play a part,” he explained.
“We're doing everything we can to get the players in that we want and we'll continue to do that and I'm hopeful that by the time we start back late in June all of our new additions with the exception of one or two will be here.
“I think everyone's pre-season is different and no manager is the same. I've worked for loads of different managers and all of their preparation is different. My pre-season preparation is predominantly going to be organisation and I know the lads will come back in good shape because I've put them under pressure to do that.”