Andy King is confident Bristol City are a lot more prepared heading into the new season in comparison to 12 months ago, highlighting the positive atmosphere among the club as one of the major differences.
The 33-year-old midfielder, who recently signed a one-year extension as a player/coach, believes the Robins have everything in place to achieve their aims this season although remains cautious City's lack of squad depth means staying injury-free will be key to any success.
City finished 17th last season and improvements in their league position are mandatory and while manager Nigel Pearson is aiming for promotion, King suggests a top-half finish would be a more realistic ambition.
He told Bristol Live: "The atmosphere around the place is definitely a lot better. I don't really know why and I don't think it was particularly bad last year but we've got a real sense of togetherness in pre-season this year where we've had the year of working together.
"We've got a style of how we want to play, we've got a formation of how we want to play and the lads have been playing together for a year which does make a big difference."
Nine players including Jamie Paterson and Famara Diedhiou left the club on free transfers last summer while the manager tinkered with the formation throughout the first half of the season, eventually settling with a 3-5-2 system that proved highly effective in getting the best out of City's forward trio of Chris Martin, Andi Weimann and Antoine Semenyo.
Pearson's transfer business and pre-season matches so far indicate he has developed the formation, addressing areas of weakness such as bringing in Kane Wilson at right wing-back and Kal Naismith to try and shore up a defence that conceded 77 goals last season.
King added: "There was a high turnover of players last year, people coming in not knowing whether we were going to play four at the back or five at the back and I think this year we have a sense of how we want to play and where people are going to fit into that system."
City remain undefeated in pre-season with wins over Forest Green, Cheltenham, Plymouth, Forest Green and a draw with Exeter City, although they face a much sterner test on Saturday when they travel to newly-promoted Bournemouth, their final friendly before taking on Hull.
"We've had good results in pre-season, amongst the changing room it does bring confidence and a good atmosphere," King added. "Ultimately it will mean nothing if we go and lose the first two games of the season but we want to be going into the first game having had some good results and I think we've had that.
"For us, we just want to start the season well and see how far it can take us. You know with the Championship anyone can do anything and you look at the likes of Huddersfield and Luton who didn't have massive budgets but then you look at Fulham and Bournemouth who did have massive budgets and romped the league so we're realistic with it.
"I know with the players we've got and if we can keep everyone fit and together then we have a good chance of being successful for the season. That will be the big thing for us as the squad isn't massive but we do have the quality.
"We need to look at the top half for sure. (Top six) is always hard when teams have got the parachute payments. Certainly as players, you believe you can beat anyone when you go out onto the pitch.
"We've seen teams who are in and around us in terms of budget do well last season so there's no reason why that can't be us this year."
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