DENNIS Wise has promised blood, sweat and hopefully a few cheers as he embarks on a three-year mission to haul Swindon Town back into happier territory.

The new County Ground boss is guaranteeing his troops a tough pre-season, but they will be given the chance to prove themselves when they return from a curtailed break.

Wise will examine the club from top to bottom in the coming weeks and months, something he stressed was a key desire during the interview process.

However, as he was unveiled at a press conference yesterday, along with assistant manager and former Chelsea teammate Gus Poyet, Wise said he was not in the business of promising anything and everything or acknowledging particular targets.

The 39-year-old said: "It's very difficult to set targets at the present moment.

"We need to sit down and assess the situation, assess the players and also assess what we can and can't do.

"Obviously there's not going to be loads and loads of money involved.

"We're going to have to wheel and deal a little bit and try and learn the hard way."

That means the players will be called back for pre-season a little earlier than planned while Wise will also be studying videos of the last campaign to learn more about his players.

As for choosing Swindon Town, he said the board's willingness to let him have the reign over large areas of the club was significant.

He said: "That was important to me. I wanted to run the whole place as much as I could and be involved in everything. I liked what I heard and I felt this was right."

And for the players anxious to know just what their new boss has in store for them, they won't have to wait too long.

Many can expect a phone call in the coming weeks and anyone booking a later holiday might do well to think again.

Wise said: "We're going to get them back slightly earlier (than the date set by Iffy Onuora) because we need to have a look at them. The time they were given off was maybe a little bit too long.

"I want the players to have a good pre-season. It's going to be very difficult, it's going to be hard work but we'll have some fun as well. That's important.

"If they're enjoying themselves you can get the best out of them."

Wise already has a couple of targets in mind to strengthen the squad but he won't be rushing into squad decisions.

He said: "I have to first of all give the lads here a chance. That's only fair. They've been relegated and I'm sure they want to prove something and get back up.

"They'll have that opportunity and see how it goes from there.

"I hope they want to stay, I hope they want to get promotion, I hope they're prepared to work extremely hard for each other and I hope they're looking forward to it.

"We need to make sure we get them fit and strong for the start of the season. We need players to feel good about themselves and it's important they're right in their minds at the start of the season.

"I've always been a scrapper. I used to say to little Franco (Zola), there's racehorses and there's donkeys.

"There's a lot of things to be done over the next six to eight weeks to make sure we prepare right."

As for his assistant, Wise is delighted that Poyet has agreed to join him. He said: "It was very important to me. I'd spoken to him a long, long time ago about working together.

"I tried to get him at Millwall but he was on the plane back to Uruguay. We've always kept in touch though.

"We are different characters but I think we compliment each other.

"Gus is a bubbly person. He's a great catch for me and I'm pleased he wants to work with me.

"I trust him and that's important."