A look at the 2012/13 fixtures

My first reaction when I saw the fixtures this morning was how tough the games looked, a hangover I am sure from dealing in a much different market these past 3 years.

Birmingham kick us off at St Andrews and my favourite memory of the Blue Noses was when we went there for the last game of the 1992/3 season and Big Fat Pete hit the woodwork in the final minute.

While manager-less Birmingham are 5th in the promotion odds, Leicester City are the bookies favourites and the Foxes will be our first Valley opponents followed quickly by Steve Bruce’s Hull City.

Then it is a trip to Forest, which I think will be my first game, and who knows what you are going to get with them and then after an international break Palarse come to The Valley.

Blackpool away is on an October Saturday, which will please Addicks looking for a pre-winter break. We also go to Leeds and Wolves that month. We play Cardiff at home the day before Firework’s Night, Huddersfield will bring their unbeaten record to The Valley on November 24th, and The Den ‘welcomes’ us on the first day of December.

We do have a home Boxing Day game against Ipswich, with Vicarage Road on New Year’s Day. We go to Ewood Park on January 19th, scene of our last Championship title….. it couldn’t, could it?

We go to the rotting Selhurst on February 2nd, as the opening fixtures reverse during that month. We have Millwall and another promotion favourite Bolton at home in March, although the table might look a lot different then to what the bookies expect. This leads into Brighton at home and Leeds away, which is a tough looking run of games.

We end with 3 of our final 5 games on the road, with our farthest trip saving itself for the final away game at Middlesbrough and we end with Bristol City at The Valley.

Phew. What do you think?