Hucknall Town keep friendly opponentns close to their chest

But the Yellows gaffer is keeping his cards close to his chest with the club not yet revealing who they will face.

The club will kick off their pre-season campaign on 8th August ahead of a potential 5th September start date for the EMCFL.

“The friendlies are fixed and ready, but we are not going public as yet,” he said. “There are still guidelines to be rubber-stamped yet and we feel it is better to wait

“We have got them all arranged, but we don’t know if people can go watch them as yet.

“We have got a number of teams arranged who are higher up than us.

“When we won the league (Central Midlands League South Division in 2018/19) we had a tough pre-season fixture list.

“I always go for tougher levels than we normally play at so we can have a look at people.

“There is no point playing teams we can just turn over. The players are very fit, it is just about getting match fit now.”

And he remains hopeful that fans will be allowed inside the 4,000 capacity Watnall Road stadium when the league season begins.

League bosses are yet to finalise an official start date and social distancing measures regarding fans.

But Graves believes the time is now right for grassroots football to return to normal.

“We are hoping we will be able to get fans into pre-season and if that happens then it will happen for the league,” he said.

“We heard something about 30 per cent capacity being allowed which wouldn't have an affect on us and we would be entitled to get our normal gate.

“We have to get back on with things now. Everybody has their own risks no matter what job it is or everyday life.

“As long as nothing untoward happens we are nearly there.

“We are not going to do anything that will cause problems. We will tackle things step by step in the right way.

“When you pick through all the guidance a lot of it is common sense. We will have one way systems in place and things like that.

“As long as common sense prevails we won't have a problem.”