Brian Barry-Murphy is hoping the atmosphere from the end of last season can carry over into the 2019/20 campaign.
The Dale boss is confident that supporters will have a squad to be excited about, but reiterated a desire for patience in terms of summer recruitment.
“The atmosphere towards the end of the season was electric,” said Barry-Murphy.
“I said that numerous times about our home games. The away games as well were incredible.
“That sense of excitement is something we’re keen to harbour within the supporters.
“My main message for the close season was that, even though everyone is aware we’ll be working with a smaller squad, we’re still very, very confident that we’ll have a group of players that will provide excitement and a style of football that the supporters have become accustomed to over a long period of time.
“I wouldn’t put anyone off having high expectations for the season, but tempered with the fact it’s going to have to be a patient summer with how we approach our recruitment of players and indeed trying to renegotiate with the players we want to stay.”
Barry-Murphy also outlined his early pre-season plans for the squad, which includes a friendly at home to Blackburn Rovers, with some more games close to being confirmed.
“Our players will return on the 27th June officially, but the work starts more or less when the season finishes.
“It’s totally different in terms of preparation and conditioning. All of our players will have conditioning programmes that they work to, and whilst its much lesser a workload – it’s very important for the players to switch off – they’re constantly recuperating in this period, and then they start slowly building up towards coming back in that last week of June in a condition that will allow them to progress at a pace that we feel is going to be necessary going into next season.
“[On Blackburn Rovers] They’re a brilliant Club and have a manager I admire greatly in Tony Mowbray. I think we’re very close to getting some of the other games confirmed over the next four or five days, so we’ll have a definitive programme of what we’ll have for most of July and the start of August.
“The organisation of the Championship clubs seems to be a lot later this season, so it’s taking a bit longer to organise, but we have the games in mind that we want, and I think we’re close to getting those signed off.
“I believe the pre-season games provide a unique way of getting the lads to a level of fitness that we need to start the season, and that’s a very important of what we’re trying to achieve.
“Working with a squad that’s going to be smaller, we feel it’s very important that we achieve a level of conditioning and fitness that allows those players to maximise their potential and avoid injuries, and pre-season is critical in that.”
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