Alan Irvine has highlighted the importance of a good start in the Championship next season.

The PNE boss looks set to give his squad an intense pre-season schedule in order to get his troops in tip-top condition for the big kick-off the 9^th August.

The players look set to report back from their summer holidays on 1^st July although the full pre-season itinerary is still yet to be confirmed.

And the North End Manager is under no illusions that a good run in the opening months of the campaign could signal an early season push at the top end of league table.

Indeed, examples include champions West Bromwich Albion and Play-Off finalists Bristol City, who have been in promotion-chasing places for almost the entirety of the season.

Irvine explained: "Pre-season is vitally important. It is vitally important physically, it's vitally important technically and tactically and we must make sure that we have done everything that we possibly can to prepare ourselves for a good start in the Championship.

"That start is so important because a good start can carry you a long way.

"They can expect to go straight into it. We're not going to be having a gradual build-up - if we had wanted that then I would have had to have brought them back earlier and I think psychologically, footballers coming back for pre-season training in June is quite tough to take and they feel that you have stolen a bit of their holiday time.

"I don't want to do that, but the other side is that the players must come back in good condition. We will work really hard from day one, with two sessions a day before we head off.

"I think most people have a tried and trusted method. There is no easy way to get fit and there's not a fun way to get fit either so it will be hard work.

"We will work with the balls from day one because it is something that I believe in very much and interestingly I've got a little bit of thinking to do about whether I follow the model that we have used fairly successfully at Everton over the last few years or whether I go back to some of the things I used to do when I was in charge at Youth Team level at Newcastle.

"I haven't fully decided yet but one thing is for sure that we will start with the balls from day one and do running as well, so the players need to be ready for that."

Although return to pre-season training will indicate the end of an eight-week break, the coaching and playing staff can look forward to significantly improved facilities at Springfields following the Club's decision to part with over £150,000 to radically develop the quality of the training pitches.

The Manager explained that the upgrade was necessary following constant flooding throughout the winter months.

"It is a lot of money, there is no doubt about that," he said. "You could look at it and say that we could have put that towards buying a player but given the choice, I would have chosen the money to have been spent on the training ground because that's where we have to go everyday.

"It's our place of work and if the conditions aren't right there then we are scrambling around trying to find alternatives and it made life very difficult on many occasions last season.

"I'm absolutely delighted that the work is being done and I'm very grateful that the Club have managed to find the money to do that work."

Log onto Whites World on Tuesday for the second part of our in-depth interview with the PNE Gaffer. Click here for more details