[djonshore]

Originally Posted by wolvesdavid

Opening day fixtures:

Arsenal v Sunderland
Everton v Manchester United
Fulham v Norwich City
Manchester City v Southampton
Newcastle United v Tottenham Hotspur
Queens Park Rangers v Swansea City
Reading v Stoke City
West Bromwich Albion v Liverpool
West Ham United v Aston Villa
Wigan Athletic v Chelsea

Games for TV in my opinion:

Everton v Manchester United
WBA v Liverpool
Wigan v Chelsea
Newcastle v Tottenham

I predict that Sky Sports Super Sunday on August 19 will be:

13:30 Everton v Manchester United
16:00 Manchester City v Southampton

[wolvesdavid]

First day games in the championship:

Barnsley v Middlesbrough
Birmingham v Charlton
Burnley v Bolton
Cardiff v Huddersfield
Crystal Palace v Watford
Derby v Sheff Wed
Hull v Brighton
Ipswich v Blackburn
Leeds United v Wolves
Leicester v Peterborough
Millwall v Blackpool
Nottm Forest v Bristol City

From League 2:

Fleetwood Town v Torquay United
York City v Wycombe

I have chosen these two clubs as they have just come up. For York City its a bit different as they are returning to the league after 8 years, but its not really any different to any other club that has been relegated to the conference and then come back up. Of course though it is Fleetwood Towns first ever football league match.

I guess two of the above matches will be on TV. One on a Friday night, and one at Saturday teatime. The fact is the Premier League and the Football League start the same week means Saturday lunchtime can not be used for the football league such as Sky used it for AFC Wimbledon v Bristol Rovers last season.

So first day I'll go for Burnley v Bolton (team just come down from Premier League, local derby) and Fleetwood v Torquay (Fleetwoods first ever football league match.)

[Steve Williams]

Note there are no Easter Monday fixtures again this season, and also there's a full fixture list on FA Cup sixth round weekend when usually, if there's no tournament that summer, they don't bother.

[blueisthecolour]

Originally Posted by wolvesdavid

So first day I'll go for Burnley v Bolton (team just come down from Premier League, local derby)

I'd guess that Leeds v Wolves is more likely as they are bigger clubs.

Edit: Just noticed your username

[wolvesdavid]

Thanks for saying we are a bigger club!

I considered it, although I thought a local derby looking at it objectively would be the better game for Sky. I then picked Fleetwood as the other match as they are only going to have 1 1st ever game in the football league.

I expect Sky will want all 3 relegated clubs from the Premier League early on in the season for their coverage. We play Cardiff away on September 1st, so perhaps that game.

Of course Leeds v Wolves would be a good game to show though.

[cook0891]

Burnley v Bolton also has Owen Coyle going back to old club which could (and will in my opinion) have the deciding factor

[Jamesp84]

Fleetwood getting into the league doesn't have quite the same story attached to it as Wimbledon last year. In fact, I can't recall another side promoted into the FL having their first game live before.

[stevvy1986]

Agreed. Fleetwood getting into the league is a bit of a non story in the sense that 2 teams come up every year anyway, and they've spent alot of money getting there, so no great shock. AFC Wimbledon on the other hand was a 'phoenix club' coming from the bottom right through to the football league in not too many years and was most definitely more of a story than Fleetwood being in the league.

[stevvy1986]

Originally Posted by cook0891

Burnley v Bolton also has Owen Coyle going back to old club which could (and will in my opinion) have the deciding factor

Yep, agreed. Local derby, newly relegated club away to a club that's recently been in the PL, manager going back to his old club after a bit of an acrimonious departure. Though Leeds v Wolves features 2 bigger teams, that and the 'newly relegated team' are the only things going for it I'd say, whereas Burnley v Bolton has the old manager element. I know which I'd choose, though if Leeds v Wolves is chosen I could understand why.

[The Wanderer]

Coyle has already been back to Turf Moor since he went on to bigger and better things, but yeah, as long as Sky get a suitable timeslot for themselves I think that'll be the live game

[wolvesdavid]

The first football league live fixtures on TV have been confirmed: All games are in the championship unless stated otherwise.

August:

Fri 17 Cardiff v Huddersfield (7.45pm)
Sat 18 Leeds v Wolves (12.45pm)

Fri 24 Bolton v Nott'm Forest (7.45pm)

September:

Sun 9 Coventry v Stevenage (1.15pm) League One
Sun 9 Crawley v Portsmouth (3.30pm) League One

Fri 14 Charlton v Crystal Palace (7.45pm)

Fri 21 Blackburn v Middlesbrough (7.45pm)

October:

Fri 19 Sheffield Weds v Leeds (7.45pm)

Interesting! Leeds v Wolves takes the 12:45pm slot on the opening day.

[Mark F]

Knew Leeds would get on a couple of times at least!

[mogzyboy]

Originally Posted by wolvesdavid

Interesting! Leeds v Wolves takes the 12:45pm slot on the opening day.

Indeed. There was no 12:45 PL game on the opening weekend of last season either.

No 5:20pm slots used for the FL either, or Thursday nights (as per the list so far, of course).

[stevvy1986]

Originally Posted by Mark F

Knew Leeds would get on a couple of times at least!

To be fair, they are 1 of the bigger teams in the league, so no great surprise.

[arunan22]

Guess this means either ESPN will have the opening live PL game?

What happened last season?

[Gray77]

Originally Posted by mogzyboy

Indeed. There was no 12:45 PL game on the opening weekend of last season either.

No 5:20pm slots used for the FL either, or Thursday nights (as per the list so far, of course).

Thought Sky might use the 12.45 slot for Everton v Man United but obviously not. I assume they will want the United game on the opening weekend so I would pencil that in for the early Sunday game given that Sat evening and MNF are never going to pass police approval.

[Gray77]

Originally Posted by arunan22

Guess this means either ESPN will have the opening live PL game?

What happened last season?

The same thing. Newcastle v Arsenal was the first TV game in the ESPN Sat evening slot. With Sky probably wanting United and City for their games I expect similar to happen again this season with ESPN taking Newcastle v Tottenham for their game.

[JBO]

Originally Posted by Mark F

Knew Leeds would get on a couple of times at least!

One of the chosen games is their cup final tbh

[Mark F]

Originally Posted by stevvy1986

To be fair, they are 1 of the bigger teams in the league, so no great surprise.

Ofcourse plus there is Warnock and games against Wolves and Sheff Wednesday should be good ones.

Anyway I don't want us being picked..we were 3 times in the league last season and were useless in all of them!

[wolvesdavid]

Originally Posted by JBO

One of the chosen games is their cup final tbh

Yeah I agree. But don't worry we're be used to it before long in the league.

[JBO]

A game against Wolves is nobody's cup final

[Judio]

Dont forget there are International friendlies three days beforehand

Managers have objected to 1245 start with South American players in the past

[stevvy1986]

Originally Posted by Judio

Dont forget there are International friendlies three days beforehand

Managers have objected to 1245 start with South American players in the past

Very awkward as you have some players at the Olympics which don't finish until the 12th I think it is, while there's Capital One Cup games ranging from Saturday August 11th through to Tuesday August 14th, so you'll get some Championship clubs in particular involved in that competition missing players due to either the Olympics or the utterly pointless friendly (I'm totally against a friendly so close to the beginning of the season, and that's regardless of whether it's the first midweek of the season or the midweek before the season starts).

[Judio]

Isnt the home friendly with Italy being played in Switzerland !!!!!

[The Wanderer]

Originally Posted by Judio

Isnt the home friendly with Italy being played in Switzerland !!!!!

Yep, in Berne