LANCASHIRE should be challenging for the County Championship on a consistent basis within three to five years, according to the Red Rose's new head coach and cricket director.

As Lancashire's players reported back for pre-season training this week, Ashley Giles laid down his plans to restore the county to its former glories.

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The Red Rose were relegated from the County Championship’s top division on the last day of the season, but Giles, appointed at Old Trafford last month, is already planning for the future, starting with winning promotion in 2015.

“We want to get to a point where we are a real cricket force,” he said. “One of the best guides to that is the form in the Championship.

“The NatWest T20 Blast is a huge competition, but your Premier League in cricket is winning that County Championship and we need to build a team over the next three to five years capable of challenging for that consistently. I feel we can do that.

“But this is about trying to build something consistent across all forms of the game so we are competitive at the top end all of the time.

“We want to be back in Division One, which is the first aim this year, but it is putting in those foundations that are really going to give us strength.”

With the squad returning from their holidays this week it is the first chance Giles has had to spend time with them.

“It is always exciting when you get the group together and start working towards next season, but it is slowly, slowly at this point,” he told Lancashire's official website.

“We have started with fitness testing and then over the next few days we will have one-on-one meetings with all the players to get everything in order and make sure everything is individualised to what the guys need.”

As well as getting the current squad up to speed, Giles is also casting an eye on talent available to bring in.

But he has backed the players remaining at Old Trafford to turn the counties fortunes around.

“Our recruitment is obviously very important,” said Giles, “but I do believe we have some very good players here and it is all about making sure we tap that talent properly and getting the very best out of it.

“Coming from the outside, there are always things that you think need to be tweaked because you are looking at things with fresh eyes.

“But there is a lot of good stuff here.

“I know relegation was disappointing last season, but the team was one hit away from winning the NatWest T20 Blast, and their season could have changed quite drastically then.