We spoke to manager Paul Simpson this morning to get his thoughts on the 2024/25 fixtures.
“It’s always an exciting day,” he said. “I always think this is the real start of it all, although we've had one day of pre-season so far for the players, and they're in for the second one today.
“I think when the fixtures come out, you've actually got something to look forward to and something to plan for. Gillingham away is a tough start, and it’s probably one of our longest journeys.
“I think in that first run of games, we've got four or five of our longest trips. It’s a tough start, but the truth of it is, if you want to achieve something in any league, you've got to go to all these places, you've got to play each other home and away, so there's some really exciting games to look forward to.
“I do think it is a good thing to get the majority of those trips out of the way before Christmas. It was the other way around last season, I think every single one of our away games after Christmas last year was an overnight stay and it does become a real test.
“I'm actually just going through the list now, looking at when we might be able to travel on the train, when it's going to be afternoon beds, when it's going to be an overnight, when it's pre-match, so it’s good that we can now start planning those kinds of things.
“I always think it’s good to finish at home as well, you look ahead and hope that we're playing for something or we’ve already achieved something.
“I also think the Christmas games are brilliant for us and the supporters, having Morecambe and Accrington at home, and even the Crewe away game isn’t a massive journey for them.
“For once, I've got to say the fixtures have been quite kind to our supporters in terms of those games. Probably not the first game of the season, but I know we've got so many supporters down in the south and they'll be delighted with Gillingham and they'll probably come along for that first one.”
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“Hopefully all of the changes at the stadium will be finished by that point. We had a tremendous crowd for the Barrow game in League Two last time, so I would hope it's going to be the same again. There's lots and lots to look forward to.
“We know the aim is promotion and you’ve got to average two-points per-game over the season to try and achieve that. That's what we want to do, that's what we want to go for. We've got to get a group of players together who are good enough to do that, but also have that single-mindedness.”
