Nottingham Forest have touched down in Portugal for a warm-weather training camp, signalling the true start of the Reds' pre-season.

In truth, pre-season began a week ago, when Oliver Glasner first met his new squad at the Nigel Doughty Academy, with five days to prepare for their opening friendly.

That friendly was just a stone's throw away, against Notts County at Meadow Lane; an encounter that Forest emerged as 2-0 victors from.

It offered a first glimpse of how Forest may look under Glasner, operating in his famed 3-4-2-1 shape, but the Austrian head coach insisted that more work is needed.

Luckily for him, Forest have seven more friendlies before the Premier League season gets underway, which will allow plenty of time to work towards a system that works.

Typically, you associate pre-season with fitness. A painstaking period to get up to speed after enjoying a few weeks on the world's best beaches.

This summer, fitness will be a huge factor for Forest, but it is just one element of one of the club's most important pre-season campaigns in years.

Glasner's usual system is so antithetical to the one utilised by any of his predecessors that he has warned it could take the squad "three to six months" to acclimatise.

Achieving that could bring untold sporting riches to the City Ground once more, but will require a perfect combination of work behind-the-scenes.

As Glasner put it himself, Forest "Are now trying to find the right ingredients in every single area and then, with these ingredients, hopefully we get a great meal, because then we will be successful."

Forest were all smiles as they stepped off their chartered flight after arrival in Portugal.

The Reds will enjoy a warm-weather training camp based in the south of the country, where the real hard yards will begin.

Glasner's side will face three tests during their time in Portugal: against Blackburn Rovers, Vitoria SC (behind closed doors) and concluding with a blockbuster tie against Liga Portugal Betclic runners-up Sporting CP.

While the club have not yet confirmed it, there is an expectation that the games against Blackburn and Sporting will be broadcast for fans to watch on ForestTV.

Details of the stream for Saturday's friendly at Notts County were only confirmed on Friday, so expect to see confirmation of this tomorrow, Tuesday.

A week after playing Sporting, Forest will head across Europe once more to Udine, nestled in the north-east of Italy.

Here, the Reds will compete in an unusual three-team league-format tournament, consisting of two 45-minute matches for each side.

The winner will, as usual, earn three points, but a draw will result in a penalty shootout where the winner takes two points, but the loser will still earn one.

A league format will then determine the overall winner of the tournament, which is to be played on the evening of Saturday 8 August, kicking off from 19:00 BST.

Forest's opponents will be Serie A side Udinese, and European giants Barcelona, who Forest will face, in that order, during the first two 45-minute matches.

After a brief trip to Italy, where the menu will be all work and no wine, Forest will return to England once more ahead of two final pre-season outings at the City Ground.

Those games will see Bayer Leverkusen and Stade Brestois visit the world-famous City Ground days apart, just a week out from the Reds' Premier League opener.

It will present fans' biggest opportunity to see Forest in the flesh this pre-season, at a time when the squad should be closest to its final form ahead of the new season, even if late changes and tactical adjustments are possible.

Forest's full, confirmed schedule for pre-season is available to view below.