Steve Bartram reacts to the release of United's 2009/10 league schedule...
Fixtures day is a strange beast. The early-morning suspense is ephemeral; dashed by the realisation that you knew all along what would happen. It's like going to see a film when someone has already spoiled the ending for you.
You have to play each team twice, teams who have long-since been determined. Nevertheless, it's still cause for excitement. Important questions demand answers upon the list's publication. How tough are the opening weeks? Who do we face in the run-in? When shall we welcome our nearest and not-so dearest to Old Trafford, or head over to their places?
Basically, in terms of the freshly-published 2009/10 Barclays Premier League fixture list, the first and last three games look navigable, the Manchester derbies fall in September and April, while October and March present the Reds with opportunities to avenge last season's double defeat to Liverpool.
It's worth a further delve, especially after last season's demonstration of how the fixture list can be both help and hindrance, when an unfathomably tough start to the season left few daunting hurdles during the title run-in.
This year's schedule looks to have a more even spread to it, with the toughest run coming between mid-March and mid-April (Liverpool, Bolton, Chelsea, Blackburn, City in under a month).
On top, as one of few silver linings to last month's defeat in Rome, there are no UEFA Super Cup or Club World Cup trips, hence no immediate postponements which hang over the club for the rest of the season in an already packed schedule.
Perhaps most importantly, there is no repeat of last season's anomaly whereby the Reds were away from home after every Champions League group game. This term, three are home (Manchester City, Sunderland, Aston Villa) and three are away (Liverpool, Chelsea, Portsmouth). Much will depend on how the European fixtures fall, (Anfield or Stamford Bridge would be infinitely more daunting after a long trip to Turkey, for example) but that won't become clear until the Champions League draw on 27 August.
All we know for sure is what we already knew, plus a touch more detail. It's only three weeks since the disappointment of Rome, and the players may still be recharging their batteries on sunny shores around the globe, but now we can all look ahead with a little more clarity to next season. The assault on more silverware begins here.
The views expressed in this blog are personal to the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Manchester United FC.
