Ross County assistant manager Billy Dodds says it is imperative his players make a strong start to the season to avoid becoming embroiled in another relegation struggle.
The Staggies began the 2014-15 campaign with seven straight defeats and had picked up a mere 10 points by the halfway stage.
Only a remarkable run of form during the second half of the campaign, including nine wins and a draw from 10 matches, helped Jim McIntyre’s men escape demotion to the Championship.
County were handed the toughest possible start to the 2015-16 season when the fixtures were revealed yesterday with a trip to Celtic Park to face the champions on August 1 before a home match against Hamilton Accies the following Saturday.
Dodds said: “It would be good for everyone if we made a good start as we were on the chase last year.
“We don’t want to be chasing, we want to be setting out our stall right away.
“The club is getting to a place where Jim and I want it to be and the chairman Roy MacGregor has given us unbelievable backing.
“We want to kick on and make a good start to the season. We don’t want the negative thoughts about another relegation season.
“We want to show we have got out of the relegation mire and we finished last season brilliantly.
“We want to continue that and show we are a team that doesn’t think about relegation.
“We want to be comfortable like certain other teams in the league. Anything above that would be a bonus.”
County have made seven summer signings in preparation for the new campaign, including three in the space of three days this week, with the acquisition of Hartlepool United duo Darren Holden and Jonathan Franks as well as Fleetwood Town midfielder Stewart Murdoch.
But Dodds hopes future transfer windows are not quite as busy at Victoria Park.
He added: “We don’t want to go through this process of changing 12 every transfer window and this will probably be the last one.
“It is about having a long- term vision. Sometimes it doesn’t always come true but Jim and myself certainly don’t want to be changing 12 players when we could be tweaking two or three instead.
“We now have the basis of a good squad on two-year or three-year contracts. There is a stability about the club, which is what we have wanted since first coming in.
“Sometimes it takes time to get to that level but hopefully we are getting there.”
Caley Thistle will begin their 2015-16 Scottish Premiership season with a home match against Motherwell, while Aberdeen travel to Tannadice to take on Dundee United.