Permanent fixtures

After what feels like months of inactivity, the club sprang into life this morning with the release of the fixtures, the start of pre-season training and a few trialists ambling around aimlessly and asking where the toilets are. My God, I hope Chris Williams was paying attention after a summer updating his Facebook profile.

The fixtures are looking more like an extended pre-season schedule every year. My understanding of British geography is heavily influenced by the nation's football clubs, but I have no idea where Droylsden, Farsley, Ebbsfleet and Histon are.

We open with Forest Green Rovers, which, despite last year's result is probably a decent draw. By the end of August we should have a reasonable understanding of what's going to be possible with a tricky opening month. Christmas sees a bizarre Bank Holiday double header against Crawley on Boxing Day and New Years Day. Other than that, it's little more than a series of games between August and May. Our big fish status probably means that individual fixtures are less important than where we end up.

No forgotten Premiership veterans amongst the raggle taggle of trailists this morning unless the odd fanciful rumour about Tommy Mooney counts. This is probably a good thing.

Alex Jeannin should get on well with The Big Zebrowski and Marvin Robinson, given his rumoured misdemeanours at Darlington. Phil Trainer (pictured) looks like he could do with a trip to the dentist. Gregg Coombes we know from last season; although possibly not - he demonstrated precious little to suggest he's worth a second look. But perhaps Jim Smith knows differently and with pre-season under his belt he could prove a useful addition. There's nothing remarkable about Joel Ledgister and Kalusivikako Ngoma, apart from Ngoma's name, of course; which is not really a surprise given the level at which we wallow.

With Jim Smith's main role as charismatic front man rather than footballing technician, one suspects this is the six week period that will see Darren Patterson earn his corn.