United manager Greg Abbott spoke to us today about his hopes for the new season ahead of the opening League One fixture against Brentford at Brunton Park on Saturday.

He said: "We're very pleased with how pre-season has gone and we're really looking forward to starting the season proper this weekend.

"I think we can look towards the Brentford game with plenty of optimism. There's a bit more of an edge to everything now that it's building up to a competitive game and this is the match that all the pre-season training and games have been driven towards preparing us for.

"We think we've done well in pre-season and given the fans plenty to be optimistic about for the coming season. It's going to be tough as there's some very good teams in the division this year but we believe we can be competitive and improve on our showing last season.

"We are confident that we've got a better squad this season but that will mean nothing if we don't get off to the right start. There's still a lot of hard work that needs to be put in if we are to achieve our aims.

"There's a lot of talk about positions and cup runs being targets this season, but what I really want to do is fill the ground. If we are getting crowds of 8, 9 or 10,000 and maybe one capacity crowd then we will clearly be doing something right and having success on the pitch.

"Yes it would give the club a financial boost but that's for the directors to be interested in. I just want the people in because we're playing the right type of football and being reasonably successful. That's my goal for this season, to give the fans a reason to get down to Brunton Park in large numbers on a regular occurance.

"People talk about getting revenge this weekend for the defeat we suffered against Brentford on the opening day of last season but that isn't the way we look at it. Yes we want to get a better result and beat them this time but that's just because we want to get off to as good of a start as possible this season and give the fans a reason to really get behind us."