STEWART Day’s appetite for the new season has been whet by a Capital One Cup clash with local rivals Wigan Athletic.

The Shakers chairman, aged 33, will come face-to-face with the Football League’s only younger chairman in Latics chief David Sharpe, who is 10 years his junior.

Bury will face recently-relegated Wigan on the first week of the new season, a few days after opening the new campaign with a trip to Doncaster Rovers.

And Day is looking forward to getting an early test against one of League One’s strongest squads.

“Two years ago they won the FA Cup and were playing in the Premier League,” he said. “I was at the Football League conference the other week and speaking to Jonathan Jackson (Wigan’s chief executive), saying how much I was looking forward to meeting Wigan. To do it in the cup competition is really exciting.”

The Shakers have already made three big signings this summer in Leon Clarke, Tom Pope and Peter Clarke.

And while Day is putting no promotion pressure on the squad this season – he makes no secret of his long-term aim.

“My ambition is to try and get this club as far as the Championship but we know that won’t be easy,” he said.

“To have got a promotion in the first two years is an incredible achievement. Our aim is still to push forward.

“Hopefully this season we’ll have a competitive squad which will do well, accepting this is a very competitive division against clubs like Sheffield United and Wigan, whose budget is superior to our own.”