"Making your debut away to the champions is a dream come true," says Howard.
"It's a month and a half away, so still a long time."
Phantoms manager Iain Greenwood-Smith says his players have bonded well in training camp as the Phantoms play their first game ever in a pre-season friendly against CSA England Championship (third-tier of the English CSA football pyramid) side Chiswick.
And Howard, who flourished for Chiswick this season, scoring 18 goals in 2009-10, says the friendly was arranged as part of his transfer.
And he has also dismissed talks that he will fail to adapt to the BritLeague, saying: "I'm ready for the challenge. I'm ready to play with the big boys."
"As expansion team, people expect us to do rather poorly, but come the opener at HMV Park, we hope we can prove them wrong as the season progresses."
