Steve Eyre will take charge of his new squad for the first time today when the players report back at Spotland for the first day of pre season training.

The start of the 2011-12 season officially kicks off today with the start of preseason training - or the worst day of the year for those footballers who have enjoyed their Summer break that little bit too much.

Obviously, pre season this year will have a different feel with new boss Steve Eyre taking control and introducing the sort of coaching and training that has been used effectively at Manchester City over the past few years.

Training may well be boosted with reports that Dale could have finally ended the training ground problem that has blighted many a Dale manager over the years. Talks have been ongoing with the owners of Manor Farm - a 24 acre site in Timperley that has previously been used by Stockport County.

After a few days in England, the players will head to Spain for the now annual pre season training trip to Spain which will include a trip to Gibraltar for a match against their national side on Sunday 10th July.

The first opportunity Dale supporters will have to see the new look side in action will be at Southport on Saturday 16th July.

Photo: Action Images

Newbold_Dale added 11:34 - Jun 30 Ta for the report. I think Hill-croft’s taking training and fitness seriously was a big factor in our doing well last season: • we hardly seemed to have any injuries, so our (small) squad wasn’t hampered much by players being unavailable • we seemed to really perform in the last few minutes of games (Huddersfield at home, Bristol Rovers at home off the top of my head, but there were a lot of times we seemed to do this). I know clever use of substitutes counted there, too, but fitness levels must have played a part in that. Steve Eyre and his helpers will obviously be up-to-date on all the latest training and fitness techniques, so I expect more of the same – maybe even an improvement?

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