AFTER a busy pre-season including seven friendly matches, the real business of the Championship begins for Wanderers on Saturday and forward Liam Feeney cannot wait to get going.

It has been a summer of change around the 28-year-old with a raft of senior players leaving the Whites and new faces taking their place.

But as he gets ready to kick off his second full season at the Macron Stadium, Feeney is excited about the team's prospects.

He admits it has been a gruelling few weeks getting ready for Saturday's opener against Derby County but Feeney says the mood in the camp is upbeat with his new team-mates settling in quickly.

He said: "It’s been one of the toughest pre-seasons I’ve had but the boys are feeling better for it.

“The personnel is the biggest change – when I signed last year it was a completely different squad and management team.

“It feels good, though. People are all pushing together in the right direction.

“The manager is demanding and we’re demanding more from ourselves, so hopefully we can have a good go this year.

"Reacting to change is part and parcel of football but the lads who have come in are good characters.

"Gary Madine is a good lad to have in the dressing room, Derik (Osede) and Ben (Amos) also, so they've settled in seamlessly.

"The team spirit has built but we already had a good set of lads here, so that has never been a concern."

Feeney has been deployed more centrally at times in pre-season by Lennon and netted twice in the friendlies at Oldham and at home against Charlton last Friday.

And he is likely to be a starter at the weekend after figuring in every one of the seven pre-season games and starting five of those.

Last season, only double Player of the Year Tim Ream made more than the 47 appearances Feeney racked up for Wanderers.

Lennon concedes the number of games the wide man played affected his form in the latter part of the campaign.

But the Wanderers boss is impressed by how the former Bournemouth and Millwall winger has bounced back this summer.

Despite being a regular for the Whites last season, and one of the few who avoided injury at any stage of the campaign, some predicted he could be moved on as part of the manager’s restructuring plans.

Feeney struggled to find his top form in the new year but has come back strong, much to the delight of Lennon.

“Feeney had a high volume of games last year – we more or less played him in every one,” he told The Bolton News.

“He played in a few different positions as well, so it wasn’t easy.

“We used him in another position (at Scunthorpe) and he’s a very good athlete. He’s got good pace, good energy.

“He’s come back, worked hard, and he’s another one who’s looked very sharp in pre-season.

"I’m very pleased with him.

“The players are only getting out of it what they are putting into it.”

Lennon is also keen to get more goals out of Josh Vela, who grabbed his first goal of any kind for the senior team in the 1-1 friendly draw with Scunthorpe United last month.

The midfielder is more known for his work outside the penalty box and has not scored for the club since making the senior grade.

But Lennon remains confident that Vela, who was used as a makeshift right-back for the majority of last season, can become a better all-rounder by adding goals to his game.

“I’d hope it’s a sign to come,” the Whites boss said. “He’s got goals in him.

“He could be a complete midfielder.

“It was good to see him get 90 minutes (at Scunthorpe), it will have done him the world of good.

"He tired a little towards the end of the game but that’s perfectly understandable.

“He’s another one that is looking good for the new season now.”