New Derby County Head Coach Paul Clement has expressed his delight at the opportunity of a full pre-season with his new side, claiming it is a 'perfect' situation.
After the sacking of former England boss Steve McClaren in May, Clement quickly became the favourite to take the reigns with the Championship side.
In his first managerial position, he has quickly made an impact with The Rams - impressing both the local media and Derby County supporters.
The 43-year-old has been quick off the mark with shaping his squad ahead of the 2015-16 season by securing the likes of former England internationals Scott Carson and Darren Bent.
The new Derby boss has also completed the signings of Reading defender Alex Pearce, West Bromwich Albion's Chris Baird and Andreas Weimann from Aston Villa, while Hull City's Tom Ince has arrived for a club record fee believed to be around £4.75million.
Clement has also acquired former England U-17 boss John Peacock who will be become his new assistant as well as Pascal Zuberbuhler who has taken over from the departing Eric Steele as goalkeeping coach.
Clement looks to hit the ground running
Since arriving from Real Madrid, the former Chelsea and PSG coach has spoken of the importance of hitting the ground running in his first job as a number one.
With now less than five weeks to go until his side travels to Bolton Wanderers on the opening day of the new campaign, Clement still has a lot of work to do to ensure The Rams are in the mix for the promotion hunt come the end of the season.
Under McClaren, Derby have been in the race for promotion for the last couple of seasons but fell short in the play-off final thanks to a last-minute Bobby Zamora strike in the 2013-14 season before missing out on a play-off place in their final fixture last time out.
But Clement, who claims his new job is his biggest challenge yet, says he is "really determined" to be a success with Derby and has every ambition to challenge as much as he can to gain promotion to the Premier League.
Derby will kick off their season at the Reebok Stadium on Saturday 8th August against Neil Lennon's Bolton Wanderers.