The fixture list for 2018/9 will be published on 21 June. I’ve got three wishes....
1. A home game on the opening day. A win to start the season is important and being at home can always help. It gives many supporters, those who don’t go to friendlies, an early chance to see new signings. And for Notts, it’s long overdue. In the last ten years we’ve had only two games at home on the opening day and all of the last seven have been away. Time to start rectifying the balance.
2. A home game on Boxing Day. Always good for attendances, especially if the opponents are local. I can remember about 30,000 in Meadow Lane for a Boxing Day fixture with Forest in the 1970s. And what have we had in the last ten years? Only four home fixtures out of ten against local rivals such as Grimsby, Rochdale, MK Dons and Doncaster (the last of which might seem a half-decent choice). To make things worse, the Grimsby and Rochdale games were both postponed, resulting in only two home games actually being played on Boxing Day in the last ten years. Again, it’s time to start rectifying the balance.
3. Avoidance of the situation which occurred twice last season when both Notts and Forest were scheduled to play at home on the same weekend, resulting in each club having to shift a game to a day/time which probably reduced the attendance. This was inexcusable and made me wonder what the people who programmed the EFL computer were thinking of.