Rovers’ pre-season campaign will, as it did last summer, start at Accrington Stanley.

The first friendly of 2023 has been announced and will once again see Rovers travel to the Wham Stadium.

The game has been confirmed for Saturday, July 8 with a 3pm kick-off.

Like last season, there was a change to the make-up of the game, with two 60-minute matches to be played.

Stanley won game one 1-0 courtesy of a Matt Lowe goal before Jack Vale and Tyrhys Dolan found the net in a 2-0 Rovers victory in game two.

Jon Dahl Tomasson has visited Stanley’s Wham Stadium on a couple of occasions since taking over at Rovers, including as recently as last month, and has been impressed by the facilities.

It was where Rovers fans got the first sight of the head coach in Rovers colours last July following his appointment three weeks previous.

Stanley will be gearing up for life back in the fourth tier as their five-year stay in League One came to an end following relegation.

As for Rovers, in recent years, Covid restrictions permitting, they have started their pre-season campaigns with an overseas trip before returning for their first friendly.

However, that is one of the things set to change this time around, with the players to start their preparations at Brockhall and then face Stanley before heading overseas for a training camp.

Tomasson outlined last summer how he would have done things differently had he been in charge earlier, and he will get that opportunity this time around.

That is expected to include back-to-back games over the weekends in July, and fewer games in midweek to afford Tomasson and his coaching staff more time to work with players during the week.

It will also give players the chance to have extended minutes, but on back-to-back days, so to manage the schedules easier.

In another change, as part of the trip overseas, Rovers will play two friendlies which are in the process of being finalised.

They will then return to the UK to complete their pre-season preparations with further friendlies against domestic opposition.

The club aren’t in a position to unveil those as yet, with some understood to either still be involved in the play-offs, or their seasons have just come to an end.

The hope is then that for the first time since 2021 Rovers will play host to a friendly and will do so on the weekend before the 2023/24 season gets under way on Saturday, August 5.

Last summer Rovers played five friendlies, while they faced Hearts and Ajax during a week-long training camp in Marbella during the World Cup break.