Gary Caldwell has sat down to discuss City's pre-season schedule, which kicks off on July 7 at Tiverton Town.
Tne Grecians will play eight matches across July, also playing; Mousehole, Bath City, Taunton, Torquay, Bristol City and Weston-super-Mare away from home, with one further match at St James Park to be announced at a later date. The players will also take part in a number of activities away from the pitch, with focus on resilience and team building.
"The players will be back on Friday 23 June for testing over the weekend, then the real fun begins," Gary said.
"We're 90% there with everything we're doing in pre-season. The first couple of weeks will be football conditioning so longer and slower running where we build a foundation for the players. After that it's the games programme where we will work on identity and how we want to be playing.
"In pre-season you always focus on physical and tactical but for me there is a real social and psychological aspect to it that we have to build. We have to build a team vision that we want for next season.
"We have a trip to Penzance for the Mousehole game and we'll have a day surfing and a lot of social time together. We'll also have a night and a day at the Marines to test the players psychologically and physically to find out how they react in difficult moments.
"We have a lot planned in a busy six weeks and it's important we play local clubs in pre-season. It gives them a bit of money and good support, plus they will be up for it against us so it's a challenge. Gradually we improve the level of team we play as pre-season goes on. When we announce that last game at SJP, we'll have that bigger game for the players and supporters."
Hear more from Gary on City's summer schedule 👇