Phil Sumbler
Yesterday’s release of the fixtures for the upcoming season were released yesterday there was a familiar sight of the Swans being away from home on the opening day of the season but a rare position where the first derby is out of the way before August is finished.
An opening day clash at Middlesbrough does not get easier for road trips with West Brom, Coventry and Sheffield United completing our first four game away from the dot com. This will only serve to place pressure on the home games in the early weeks of the season with Preston, Cardiff, Norwich and Bristol City surely all presenting opportunities for Luke Williams side to pick up maximum points at home, something which did not happen often enough last season.
QPR and Luton at home make up what looks like a nice festive fixture list whilst the return trip to the Cardiff City Stadium takes place in January. In recent years October and March/April have been seen to be the common dates for derbies but this time around we are handed an early chance to stamp our continued superiority on a fixture that has generated us so many points in recent seasons.
The Swans end the season with a home game against newly promoted Oxford United whilst the fixtures towards the end of the season look – at least on paper – to be slightly more favourable then they could have been for us.
All the opening weekend fixtures will be televised live under the new deal with the television companies with Blackburn hosting Derby and Sheffield United’s trip to Preston on their return opening up the campaign on August 9 with an 8pm kick off.
The Swans clash at Middlesbrough is next up with a 12.30 kick off with further games on Sunday and Monday to bring to a close a very elongated opening weekend.
Meanwhile the Swans are expected to launch their new kit today at 9.30am with the club shop re-opening for sales today as well. The design of the kit has – as ever – been speculated via social media channels and will be accompanied, as ever, with a range of training and leisure gear available to purchase.
The full fixture list is below
