WAYNE Brown says there was a ‘buzz’ amongst Colchester United’s players after they returned for pre-season training.

The U’s preparations for the brand new League Two season began in earnest yesterday, with the club’s players taking part in fitness testing exercises following their shortened summer break.

Colchester's players will take part in more fitness drills today, as their preparations for the new campaign continue.

Brown took training for the first time since his appointment as Colchester’s permanent head coach.

And the U’s boss says there was a good atmosphere among his players, after they reported for duty again.

Brown said: “Everyone has come back fit.

“We did the first day of testing and we’ve got another day of testing (on Tuesday) before we get the balls out.

“It was a really good day and a real positive day.

“There’s always a little bit of a buzz about the place first day back.

“Everyone is excited to see each other and they’ve not seen each for a few weeks.

“There’s a bit of nervous anticipation about what it’s going to be like and look like, in the first couple of sessions.

“It’s very much an exciting time, having the opportunity to welcome the players back again and hopefully add a little bit more quality and personnel to the squad as well.”

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Flashback - Colchester United duo Cole Skuse and Alan Judge take part in pre-season training last season Picture: RICHARD BLAXALL

Colchester’s players are set to take part in more fitness testing today, before taking part in ball-work exercises later in the week.

They are building up for the big kick-off in League Two, which is July 30.

Colchester’s first pre-season friendly is a behind-closed-doors match at Championship club Reading’s training ground, on July 2.

Brown added: “We test them at the end of the season and then we test them again, when they come back into the environment, to see where they are.

“We can then gauge what sort of levels that they need – sharpness, fitness, short stuff, big stuff.

“We can then decide how we’re going to approach and plan the actual schedule for the pre-season.

“There’s no point in us planning a pre-season and all of a sudden, they come back in poor shape because you’re going to end up doing the first week to ten days getting them up to speed.

“You always want a bit of a gauge after the first couple of days and then you can put some detail into how you’re going to go about your pre-season.

“Pre-season has changed vastly over the years.

“It was always about players coming back to get fit whereas now, they’re returning fit and on the money.

“Pre-season looks very different to how it, did many years ago.”