Ready for the fixtures

I always think this is the day when we can finally put the previous season to bed and start looking towards the next one and there is always an air of anticipation as to who we'll play and when we'll play them. At the end of the day we'll play every side home and away but there is something very special about fixtures day.

What can we expect? One thing is for certain, we will not be playing on New Year's Day. There are no fixtures on the first day of 2009 due to the FA Cup 3^rd round being played just two days later. The fixture planners looked at moving the cup ties back to the Sunday and then were scuppered by the police when they tried to arrange league games on New Year's Eve.

There'll be the usual Christmas fixtures, and most eyes are cast very early towards Boxing Day to see who we've got. It was a home game last season, against Sheffield Wednesday, so that should perhaps suggest an away game this time.

We'll all quickly check when the derby games are against Preston and Blackpool but before all that we'll all want to know who we are going to play on the opening day of the season. Everyone will be looking at the first fixture.

Home or away? The law of averages says we'll be on our travels, simply because in five of the last six seasons we've kicked off at home. I said exactly the same a year ago and was proved wrong with West Brom providing the opposition at the Turf. The only thing I can say with some certainty is that we won't be playing West Brom.

So we'll can all start looking forward from tomorrow morning - preparing for that first game on Saturday 9^th August. Who will it be? We'll soon know.