Just tried to convince junior to come to the opener as I thought it was a ground tick for him, but apparently I've taken him twice before.
Immediate observations: first 5 at home: Sheff, Wed, Bristol C. Coventry, Leeds, Plymouth....chance to get a few on the board, but also a couple of banana skins, ie Sheff Wed and Plymouth. Tough opening first five away! 11 double headers ie two games at home or away....6 of them at home, which no doubt compensates for 1st and last games are away from home. Run in, the last five, three at home: Mbro, QPR, Ipswich. Promo party at Home park!!
We also play Leeds on the anniversary of Chris Loftus and Kevin Speight losing their lives in Turkey. Playing a dicey game if you take a turkish flag to that one
Disagree on Plymouth, apart from August/September I guess May is the best time to have a weekend in Devon. Tempted to book a hotel now.
It is beyond belief things like this are not considered when they do the fixtures. They take so much into account that was always going to be a potential issue on any day of the year never mind the exact date of the tragic event.
First team we play twice...Bristol City ie 28th August (h) and 23th December (a), before we've played Sunderland once...ie 25th December (h), then less than a month later on 20th January, (a). January looks tricky Massive FC (a), FA CUP ? Norwich (h), Sunderland (a), Southampton (a).
Shame Rotherham away is a midweek, would've loved to have taken my kids to that one again, but too young on a school night!
Taking Turkish flags to Elland Road is and was always going to be asking for trouble when it was announced they were coming down. It being the anniversary game is just pouring kerosene on the fire
It shouldn't be though. It's a country ffs. They don't get to hate an entire country and force everyone else to respect their hatred of it because a terrible event happened in one tiny part of that country involving a tiny number of its people. Hate the people involved, obviously, hate Galatasaray if you must, but taking it out on a whole country and guilting everyone else to play along is ridiculous. Are they going to ban Turks from the ground too?
Obviously, but it's a weird thing to expect and some people will inevitably be more interested in supporting Tufan and Acun than in indulging Leeds' hatred of an entire nation.
Mate of mine who's a Leeds fan said there was borderline riots at Anfield when a Liverpool fan flashed a flag on his phone to the away end. At this point its easier just to leave it for one game