July 1st sees the Bulls return to pre-season training with Simon Davey taking the helm.
He has eight contracted players at present, with another handful expected to commit to the club before the weekend. The only new face to so far be revealed is that of defender Janos Kovacs, with Richard Rose's future still unclear but seemingly - as time passes - less likely to be at Edgar Street.
Although he has not spoken in depth of his pre-season planning, Davey intended to use pre-season at Darlington to concentrate on fitness, with new assistant Andy Fensome largely taking over Tony Ford's role in co-ordinating the fitness regimes:
"We will use computer technology, as well as our own eyes and ears to get the players to the standards we will set. We will use a mix of things as we need to understand the players in detail. We will be constantly studying their fitness levels, and to do that we'll be using a mixture of computer technology and detailed scouting."