Season 20/21

[Sutekh]

To confirm

1. League fixtures will be revealed on Friday 21 August 2020
2. The FL season will commence on Saturday 12 September 2020 and complete on the weekend of 8 May 2021
3. League Cup First Round fixtures involving Championship clubs are expected to be played over the weekend of 29 August 2020 as the prescribed date of 5 September is an international “break” weekend (if not then there’s going to be a lot of weakened teams for Championship clubs - but then many clubs would put out a good proportion of youngsters in teams anyway)
4. Championship clubs will be scheduled to play 13 midweek fixtures
5. All FA Cup games will be decided on the day (plus the prize money will be reduced to the level awarded in season 2017/2018 eg £1.8m for the winners as opposed to £3.6m last season)
6. Draw for FA Cup Preliminary and First Round will be on Tuesday 18 August 2020
7. League Cup Semi Finals will be one leg only
8. First month (at least) is expected to be behind closed doors
9. TV plans are still being discussed

[Sutekh]

Opening fixture? Think I’ll go for Brentford away as it’s the one new ground we all want to do.

[Hendo]

Opening fixture? Think I’ll go for Brentford away as it’s the one new ground we all want to do.

That or Wycombe.

[Old Man Andrews]

Opening game of the season will be Millwall at home.

[Hound]

Opening fixture? Think I’ll go for Brentford away as it’s the one new ground we all want to do.

Then we prob don’t want that as first fixture then

[Notts Royal]

It’s going to be more a Question of who we want to watch us play first on iFollow lol. We’ll want to get all the rubbish northern grounds out of the way first...Blackburn, Boro & Preston!

[tidus_mi2]

I would expect the EFL to try and schedule the expected lower attendance games earlier in the season, in a similar way to how they generally try and schedule the long distance games for midweek in a normal season.

So don't be surprised if we start the season with games against the likes of Sheffield Wednesday, Huddersfield, Middlesbrough, Preson and Blackburn.

[Westwood52]

I would expect the EFL to try and schedule the expected lower attendance games earlier in the season, in a similar way to how they generally try and schedule the long distance games for midweek in a normal season.

So don't be surprised if we start the season with games against the likes of Sheffield Wednesday, Huddersfield, Middlesbrough, Preson and Blackburn.

Doubt they will be allowed to do that.The fixture list has to be totally arbitrary.

[Nameless]

I would expect the EFL to try and schedule the expected lower attendance games earlier in the season, in a similar way to how they generally try and schedule the long distance games for midweek in a normal season.

So don't be surprised if we start the season with games against the likes of Sheffield Wednesday, Huddersfield, Middlesbrough, Preson and Blackburn.

Doubt they will be allowed to do that.The fixture list has to be totally arbitrary.

The last thing the fixtures are is arbitrary ! Highly arranged for all sorts of reasons.

[royalp-we]

I would expect the EFL to try and schedule the expected lower attendance games earlier in the season, in a similar way to how they generally try and schedule the long distance games for midweek in a normal season.

So don't be surprised if we start the season with games against the likes of Sheffield Wednesday, Huddersfield, Middlesbrough, Preson and Blackburn.

Doubt they will be allowed to do that.The fixture list has to be totally arbitrary.

The last thing the fixtures are is arbitrary ! Highly arranged for all sorts of reasons.

Sure are, for a whole host of reasons, Reading festival being just one example.

Brum and Coventry are ground sharing aren’t they? That will cause a bit of a headache for scheduling the fixtures too.

[Westwood52]

Doubt they will be allowed to do that.The fixture list has to be totally arbitrary.

The last thing the fixtures are is arbitrary ! Highly arranged for all sorts of reasons.

Sure are, for a whole host of reasons, Reading festival being just one example.

Brum and Coventry are ground sharing aren’t they? That will cause a bit of a headache for scheduling the fixtures too.

Surely in the main however ,the EFL try to stick to what the fixture algorithm chucks out ;barring cup clashes,postponements and ground shares?

[Sutekh]

The last thing the fixtures are is arbitrary ! Highly arranged for all sorts of reasons.

Sure are, for a whole host of reasons, Reading festival being just one example.

Brum and Coventry are ground sharing aren’t they? That will cause a bit of a headache for scheduling the fixtures too.

Surely in the main however ,the EFL try to stick to what the fixture algorithm chucks out ;barring cup clashes,postponements and ground shares?

Of course they will, they’re not going to have the time to do too much manual “fiddling” or working out how to change the main algorithms.

The fixture list is likely to be ready a little earlier than next Friday so as to discuss with the police any dodgy moments later in the season where they might have issues with covering games or to at least give them a heads up when it comes to organising their shift patterns etc. (esp. with more that the usual midweek games).

After that I believe it then goes to the clubs on the day before release and we find out at, usually, 9am on the day of release.

[Pepe the Horseman]

Opening game of the season will be Millwall at home.

Preston

[Nameless]

Sure are, for a whole host of reasons, Reading festival being just one example.

Brum and Coventry are ground sharing aren’t they? That will cause a bit of a headache for scheduling the fixtures too.

Surely in the main however ,the EFL try to stick to what the fixture algorithm chucks out ;barring cup clashes,postponements and ground shares?

Of course they will, they’re not going to have the time to do too much manual “fiddling” or working out how to change the main algorithms.

The fixture list is likely to be ready a little earlier than next Friday so as to discuss with the police any dodgy moments later in the season where they might have issues with covering games or to at least give them a heads up when it comes to organising their shift patterns etc. (esp. with more that the usual midweek games).

After that I believe it then goes to the clubs on the day before release and we find out at, usually, 9am on the day of release.

This year you can imagine they might try and keep it simple but it’s usually very manual and longwinded.
The police will have had their input up front, it’s too late once you have the fixtures to go changing much as one change may lead to a whole chain other changes. The police dictate lots of rules around the fixtures, it’s not a case of giving them an early look, they will stipulate that certain clubs do not go to Bournemouth on bank holiday Mondays, or that Newcastle and Sunderland don't both play in Londonon the same day....

[Stranded]

Colchester at Home will be the first game of the season following the League Cup draw.

[Hendo]

Reading will host Gillingham in a pre-season friendly on Saturday. Behind closed doors. KO 1.30pm. Going to be streamed on Youtube or Facebook.

[Stranded]

I can barely contain my excitement.

[SouthDownsRoyal]

Reading will host Gillingham in a pre-season friendly on Saturday. Behind closed doors. KO 1.30pm. Going to be streamed on Youtube or Facebook.

I’d love to get a breakdown of the viewing figures for that

[Snowflake Royal]

Reading will host Gillingham in a pre-season friendly on Saturday. Behind closed doors. KO 1.30pm. Going to be streamed on Youtube or Facebook.

I’d love to get a breakdown of the viewing figures for that

I'll probably watch if I remember.

May even notice the live viewers number and post it for you

[Hound]

fixtures out tomorrow then

Feels very low key this year. Apparently looking at maybe 30% capacity by October but not holding my breath.