Things start to get back to normal at Staplewood as the players are reporting back for the first day of pre season.

It seems like an eternity since the final day of the season against Stoke City at St Mary's, in reality its been exactly six weeks and now its time to start preparing for the forthcoming Premier League season.

That starts in a little under seven weeks time and in between now and then the players will start to build up their fitness, go on a training camp abroad and then start playing friendlies with the aim of hitting peak fitness on the opening day weekend against West Bromwich Albion.

But it wont just be on the training ground that things start to hot up, with players contracts officially ending today or for those that are mid contract,  Loyalty bonus's becoming due, now is also the time when the transfer window start to get into gear, very little actually gets done in any pre season before 1st July in the transfer market, if only for the fact that the six week period preceeding the date is the only chance that those working in the football industry truly get to take a holiday, so its not easy to negotiate, but that all changes now.

o the countdown begins and its hoped that in these seven weeks Saints will not only start where they left off, but bring in a few new faces before the window shuts at the end of August.  

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