United head coach David Hockaday says that work has now started on organising a thorough pre-season schedule.

The club have already confirmed that pre-season will include a trip to Santa Cristina in Italy, but the new head coach is now putting the final touches on a schedule and will be looking to confirm dates of fixtures, at home and in Italy, in the not too distant future.

“We are working on pre-season now,” said United’s head coach. “Because of what has happened before and previous events there is no pre-season in place.

“In the next few days I will be organising a pre-season with the people here. It will be a thorough pre-season.

“We are obviously going to Italy for two weeks and we will be playing a couple of games over there.

“And then we will need to organise some games for when we get back. When the referee blows the whistle on August 9th we will be ready.

United now know they will start the 2014/15 season away to Millwall but the head coach is expecting every fixture to be tough.

“This is the Championship. Whether it is at home or away it is going to be great fixture,” added David. “People can say we have got a good start or a bad start, they are all tough games.

“We need to put our flag down and say that we are Leeds United, we are serious about this league and that we are going to be competitive.”