While fans around the country have been relaxing after the end of the season, watching the 20/20 cricket and speculating on the message boards about the prospects for next season it's been business as usual at clubs up and down the country as the close season brings a chance to regroup.

We caught up with Macclesfield Chairman Mike Rance and asked him to give us a flavour of the action behind the scenes in recent weeks at Moss Rose.

"Business as usual doesn't really capture it" said Mike. "There a rhythm to the playing season that keeps things moving along. In the summer there's a temptation to relax but we have to keep at it if we're going to get everything done."

"Once the last game at Grimsby was out of the way we sat down as a Board to agree the priorities over the summer both on and off the field and this year we've given ourselves some pretty challenging objectives. The first task was to agree on our budgets and targets for next year in order to give Keith a framework in which to operate. He's an excellent manager to work with and I was very encouraged by our early transfer activity.

"To be able to bring players of the quality and experience of Ben Wright (below) and Carl Tremarco to the club early in the summer gives a big signal as to our intent and with Emile Sinclair and Kyle Wilson to add to the mix as well we were off to a good start.

"And now Keith is back from his coaching in St Lucia, we are expecting more action before the players report back for training next week.

"We were sad to lose Gareth to Bradford but I can't fault his desire to try his luck at a bigger club. He was a model pro and I wish him well."

"But the cut and thrust of the transfer market, though exciting, is actually a very small part of the work load we face over the summer and a lot of what we do is pretty mundane but by no means unimportant.

"Let's start with the stadium. Firstly we have the annual safety inspection and the associated engineering report to complete. Without that and the renewal of our Safety Certificate, which is always dependent on taking remedial action in some areas, there would be no games at the Moss next season.

"After that essential work we've prioritised two projects for completion over the summer. The first is a long overdue refurbishment of the Press box in the Main Stand. The new season should see 20 or so media seats with improved communications facilities for use by the lucky hacks assigned to Moss Rose for the day. I'm hoping that Simon Carter and Mike Glendinning will be happy with the result as I know Simon had given up hope on any improvements in this area. Thanks are due to John Brooks for his help on this project.

"We're also redecorating and modestly refurbishing the home and away dressing rooms with Roy Higginbotham taking a lead role - thanks Roy! Hopefully, the players will appreciate the improvements."

Check back tomorrow when Mike tells us more about some of the off-field activities.