BARNSLEY striker Iain Hume is leaner and determined to impress when pre-season training starts next week.

Iain told www.barnsleyfc.co.uk: "I sat down with the manager and physio at the end of the season and the main thing for me is just to get fit. I feel as though I have let a lot of people down here in the last 18-months, although there was not much I could do about the first half of that. I have a clean slate now and I will make sure I get fitter and work even harder.

"I have enough belief in my ability and know that when I am fully fit I can compete with anyone. That is why the club brought me in and I just have to go out there and prove it again now.

"I have been working through the summer on my diet and have lost weight. I will be coming back for the start of pre-season weighing less than when I left, which is a big thing for me. I normally maintain my weight or even put on a few kilos through the summer and that normally hinders me at the start of pre-season. By working on my diet I will be coming back in better shape. I have a massive point to prove both to myself and to everybody else".

He added: "I am looking forward to getting back in next week. I think we all really needed the break at the end of the season because we disappointed ourselves with the way we finished the campaign off after setting such high standards at times.

"When you look at the new people coming in then there is every reason to be excited for the new season. We showed how good we can be against the biggest teams in the division last season and made a lot of them look average. We also held our own against teams from the Premier League and we have to take a lot of confidence and belief from that.

"When you look at the teams coming down I think it leaves the division without and really massive clubs, apart from probably Middlesbrough. Everybody else is pretty much on a level playing field and you only have to look at who went up last season to see that anything is possible with a little bit of confidence and a good run.

"We beat Blackpool home and away last season and that has been the frustrating part of our results for the last few years. We have to look at the likes of Burnley and Blackpool and take confidence from the fact that you do not have to have the biggest squad or the highest wage bill to be successful in this division".

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