“It’s probably one of the toughest pre-seasons I’ve done because I’ve had the injury that kept me out for nine months last year so it was a tough one last Tuesday night but I don’t really let it frustrate me enough with the season just six weeks away.

I think there will be mistakes in pre-season because of the rustiness but my eyes are already on the first game of the season so as long as I’m 100% fit and firing for that that’s all I’m worried about.”

Last year was a frustrating time for the former Northern Ireland International after picking up a season-ending foot injury in October but insists that despite the recent increase in age, he is still feeling good.

“To be fair I turned 37 on Sunday and the body feels alright, the foot feels okay, I will get a bit of soreness it’s just getting that flexibility back. The specialist said I’ll have that for another 6-7 months but it has completely healed, he said my muscles were like a 21-year old so that’s good news and I’m not envisaging any further problems.

It was strange because I felt like I was doing well, I felt like I was flying and was contributing to the team.

Nevertheless that’s behind me now, hopefully this season I can play up to 45 games and you’re always going to get that thing from fans now because of my age ‘aw he’s passed it’ but there’s plenty more years left in me and even if I start off slow because of the break I won’t get frustrated because I know I can still play for another 2-3 years.”

The squad came together for their first training session last week as Mikey & Si put them through their paces.

“The new signings seem like a good bunch of lads, the standard of training has been very high, Mikey & Si have put on a couple of great sessions.

It seems like we’re going to have a good changing room this year, I just need to get up to the fitness of everyone else as quick as possible.

Personally it was good to blow the cobwebs off, it was the first time I’ve hit the floor in nine months so it felt good to get the gloves back on and feel the ball.”

Ingham knows the new management team very well obviously working with them on a daily basis at i2i.

“I’ve never worked during the day for my gaffer so that’ll be a new thing for me, hopefully we won’t have any problems otherwise it’ll be awkward at work on the Monday morning but I can’t see that happening. I’m sure we’ll have some good banter in the office.

I think the good thing that they’ve done is obviously changed training to two sessions a week and then changed the venue to a great facility in York St John’s.

I know how Mikey & Si work, technically they are very very good, they’ll bring on players and I like the way they’ve integrated the young lads into the squad.

Overall it’s a good move by Tad, they will definitely learn a lot this year.”

“I’m not really looking forward to pre-season games because I’m not fit at the moment. I would love to carry on where I left off last season but that would probably be a little bit naïve, I’m working towards that and hopefully I’ll be back firing again as quick as I can.

I’ve got my own personal targets that I always keep to myself, I was well on course for that last season and I just want to contribute to the team with clean sheets and get us back up to where I think we should be with a fresh looking squad.

I think that with the additions this year we should definitely be in and around the play-offs at least and I just want to play a big part in what will hopefully be a successful season.”