Ninety-one days after Argyle were last in competitive action, it will be time to start things all over again.
Much has changed, much will stay the same.
First, the changes. As well as the usual accoutrements of the fresh campaign – new kit, and so forth – Argyle find themselves in a new division, Sky Bet League One, against 21 fresh opponents, starting with a game against Barnsley at Home Park. The Greens will head into the match with a refreshed squad that features ten new players.
There is also a new Head Coach, Tom Cleverley, and after last weekend’s pre-season friendly taster against Bristol City, he will be looking forward to taking charge of a competitive fixture for the first time.
“It's been long anticipated, this one,” Cleverley told Argyle TV. “When you train on site here, and you see the stadium every morning, it makes you even more eager to get to that first game of the season.
“Then you find out it's going to be at home, so it gets even more edgy and you’re willing it to come earlier. Now it's here, we'll be ready. I feel like we have been for seven to ten days now. The players are looking forward to it as much as I am.
“They’ve been bubbly and bright in every session we've had. The intensity in training, I can't complain about. They're a group that certainly train how they play.
“There's a look in people's eyes that changes this week: ‘that shirt, I want to be mine. I want to put my best foot forward, get in the team.’ There's a little bit more killer instinct in the eyes this week that I think bodes well for us.
“There's a high working standard, a real elite mentality. If people fall below that, there's a strong enough group that we can demand from each other without it becoming too personal.”
The similarities then, and one stands out above all – the Green Army. The home areas of Home Park for Saturday’s game took little time in selling out, so, as usual, Argyle will take to the field with backing aplenty.
It is three years since Argyle started a season in the third tier of English football, and that season – a promotion season – began with a 1-0 win over Barnsley, curiously enough. These days, they are managed by former Pilgrims midfielder Conor Hourihane, and although Cleverley and his team will have left few stones unturned, there are inherent difficulties in preparing for your opening opponents.
“You don't know exactly how Barnsley are going to play,” said Cleverley. “However, they probably are the most talked about opposition that we'll face this season, because we've had four or five weeks of knowing that it's going to be them [first].
“In pre-season, you see footage of the opposition, but they've played against teams of a higher level than both of us and teams that are clearly a lower level than both of us, so to judge how they'll play is difficult.
“That's why there's a real focus on us being the catalyst and us imposing ourselves on the way we want the game to go.
“When I talk about the game taking a direction we want to take it, it helps when you've got 17,000 fans behind you, and our players will feel that.
“We must capitalise on that, although I'll be saying to our players, we have to be the catalyst for that atmosphere and that hostile environment, I'm sure our supporters won’t need much help in getting off the edge of their seat, and behind us.
“We've suffered a couple of injuries in pre-season, so we're not going to have the most depth to choose from, but the quality and the intensity will certainly be there with the players we have to choose from on Saturday,
“I'm very sure of a few things that you'll see. I don't want to give too much away of what that looks like, but it'll be a performance that I expect that the supporters will be proud of.
“They'll be able to connect with their football team, and enjoy the afternoon.”
