Not Fulham's players, though, as they were back to the grind and straight into competitive football with their first match on June 30.

"I said to the lads in the dressing room this is probably the first and last time I will ever play a full 90 minutes in June," said captain Danny Murphy after their 3-0 defeat of Faroese minnows NSI Runavik in the Europa League.

The match marked the start of an 11-month season for newly-appointed Martin Jol's troops, which some fear could see them struggle in the Barclays Premier League as winter turns to spring.

Some have questioned the logic in starting the competitive season so early but Jol has taken a philosophical view of it all.

"Yes (it is early) but on the other hand all the other teams will play their first friendly game soon," said Jol, who took the managerial reins from Mark Hughes in June.

"You have to approach it as a serious game but if you play a friendly game you do that after six or seven days and that's exactly what we did so I don't think it has a big difference."

Cottagers defender Aaron Hughes echoed his manager's sentiments, insisting it will not upset the club's pre-season preparations.

"It hasn't been too difficult to adapt to the early start," he said. "We've tried not to upset our pre-season, if you like.

"The games are slightly different because they are competitive but we're still working through things in training with the new season in mind.

"Obviously we maybe have to tweak one or two things in the build-up to competitive games, but I think once we knew we were coming back early it was definite then.

"You get your head round it and you carry on."

Things are looking promising for Fulham under the former Tottenham boss.

The west Londoners' defence has been boosted by the addition of former Liverpool left-back John Arne Riise and Jol looks to have maintained the defensive organisation and guile instilled by Hughes.

But while last season's eighth-placed finish was mostly down to their formidable defence, the Cottagers' attack could spring a few surprises this season.

Bobby Zamora and Andrew Johnson have worked well in tandem throughout the early stages of the European campaign and are scoring goals.

The duo struggled last season with injuries and only netted 10 goals between them in all competitions, but Jol has backed them to come to the fore this campaign.

"Even if you have got a tough defence you know you can score goals," he said.

"Last year Bobby was of course injured and Andy was the same, he only had 16 starts.

"So we had some trouble with injuries and luckily enough we had (Clint) Dempsey and he was our top scorer.

"I feel there are a lot more goals in Andy Johnson. Every game when I see him he is quick and he can score goals.

"He was not satisfied (last season) and that was probably because of his injuries and now hopefully we can keep them fit.

"If Bobby is in the flow he is a very good target man."