It has been some years since Stevenage tasted major success but that is all going to change if manager Alex Revell has his way.

The message is clear - we are here to win and are conditioning the players and staff to think that way.

It makes a huge difference from last year when the expectation of most football followers was that Boro's stay in the Football League would come to an end.

Not only did they make a mockery of those predictions, they have quickly changed the mindset to actively look for success.

"You want that," said Revell. "Why are you in the job if you don’t want success? We want success here, we’re all craving it. We’re all here to have success with this club and that’s what we want to build.

"We had a brilliant end-of-season run, without a shadow of a doubt and we came close to even getting in the play-offs.

"But what we have now is a group that believe because of what they achieved last year so now they believe that anything is achievable.

"The aims that we are setting them are the highest, that’s why we are working so hard.

"They play hard and they work hard on the training pitch to make sure they get stronger for the start of the season."

Seven new signings have filled the holes in the squad and unlike last year when confusion on which division they would be playing in reigned supreme and hampered transfer policy, this year they have been able to target specific positions and players, most of which have plenty of experience.

And they are all quickly fusing into Boro's new, focused style.

The boss said: "The new players are still learning the shape, they’re still learning where we want them in and out of possession and that’s why pre-season games are so good for us.

"They are starting to bed in though and beginning to show the talent and reason we brought them in.

"We’ve improved. The big thing was to keep as many from last year because they know the plan and also, because they deserved it.

"They showed from Christmas what they’ve got and the results showed that too.

"Around that we wanted to bring in players that would make us better, better than what we had maybe but that had the attributes to fit our shape and the way we play.

"The whole off-season was based around our plan and when you do that, it is a lot easier to recruit because you can focus on certain players.

"With the signings of Jamie Reid and James Daly, they want to run in behind, so they fit what we’re trying to do.

"Jake Taylor is excellent at breaking-up play and driving forward while Jake Reeves in the pocket is a player who wants to play forward every time.

"And I could keep going on.

"They are really starting to show improvement and fitting into this group which is the most-important thing."