The Barclays Premier League returns this Saturday, 83 days since the final whistle blew at Eastlands on May 24.

After a well deserved rest, Wanderers players returned for pre-season training at the beginning of July and have since been readying themselves for the demands that a new season of top-flight football brings.

Speaking at his first pre-match press conference of the season, Wanderers Manager Gary Megson looked ahead to the Barclays Premier League opener against Steve Bruce's Sunderland.

Gary, first of all, are you looking forward to the start of the new season?
Yes, I think everybody is because we have been away from competitive action for quite a while. We have signed some new players and managed to get contracts sorted on some of our main players who performed last year.

Are you happy with the way your squad is looking?
Yes, but as a manager you are always looking to improve and add to it. Whether we can do that remains to be seen. It has been quite well documented that we are looking for a forward player and although we know who we would like, whether it is actually achievable is another question. A lot of things will change between now and the end of the transfer window and we have to be prepared that if the opportunity does arise, then we can move quickly and bring somebody in.

Throughout the summer I wasn't given a budget of what we could spend, I was told to propose players to the board, which in the main is the owner Eddie Davies and chairman Phil Gartside, and they haven't knocked one back which I'm really pleased about.

What are your aims over the next 12 months?
The aim is to always do as well as possible, but you don't know what is going to happen over the course of a season. We just want to do as well as we possibly can and with the players that we have got here, then nobody will be as good as us in terms of effort and honesty. But overall, we would like to be in a position where we keep making progress.

With the signings that we have made, especially in defence, then there is genuine competition for places.
Last season we went with Gretar, who played nearly every match, but there was Joey O'Brien who could haved played at right-back. However he was injured all season and Nicky Hunt didn't feature much.

On the other side, I don't see Ricardo Gardner as anything other than an emergency left-back, so Jlloyd never had any competition. We have brought Paul Robinson and Sam Ricketts in and I've been really pleased with them.

With pre-season being an intense six-week period, have you got the impression that the players have been raring for Saturday over last seven to ten days?
As daft as this may sound, I think the players start to get bored with the pre-season routine of training and friendlies. Now it's down to the nitty gritty - the real stuff. When you play friendly matches, the game, build-up and aftermath are not the same. Competitive football is what they get paid to do and they are all really looking forward to the start of the season.

Do you have to try and reinstall that competitive edge in the players?
They have that competitive instinct anyway, but what we are trying to do is suppress that in pre-season. Now that all goes by the way side. We want them competing and fighting for every blade of grass and putting on performances that the supporters go away from having enjoyed.

Finally, is it a bonus to be playing that first game at home?
Yes, I think you always want to be playing at home first up. There's a great atmosphere at the stadium in the first game of every season and there's a great deal of optimism too. Sunderland will bring a large set of supporters like they did last season, but hopefully we can start like we did against Stoke City 12 months ago.