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En route to the average away game I think most of us like to settle our nerves (or clear the previous night's hangover) with a few tipples, just to tide us over until we get to the boozer. But six hours and 38 minutes on a train? My eyes were a little blurry just imagining it.

I couldn't believe my eyes then, when I saw that the fixture has been scheduled, for the moment at least, on Monday April 3rd. Oh, and it kicks off at 19:45. Fan friendly as ever. MFC wrote to the Football League and asked for a weekend game at Home Park. Their request has fallen on deaf ears.

Of the 46 dates revealed this morning, I wonder how many will be changed. Although we're no longer part of the Premier League elite, rest assured that the Championship carve-up will begin in earnest. I don't think Sky and the BBC have announced when they plan to broadcast games from our division yet but it's worth bearing in mind that last season, Sky showed games on Friday nights, Saturday tea-times, Sunday dinner-times (whenever the hell they liked, basically).

As a relegated club we'll be seen as a big ratings winner (until the nation has seen us play a few times, perhaps). The advice then, until the fixtures are chewed up and spat out again, would be to hold your horses, avoid arranging shift swaps and booking any advance train tickets for now.

Other than the Plymouth journey, we go to Wales twice: Swansea on August 15th and Cardiff on December 12th. We can serenade Roy Keane again, at Ipswich on February 6th and enjoy/endure a black and white Christmas at St James' on 19th December.

My girlfriend went to university in Nottingham and I have various favoured hostelries in the City so I had half an eye on the Forest game (February 20th), while the travelling army to Blackpool may now be cut from the earliest estimate of 10,000 after that game was predictably positioned on a February evening.

The first date I'm eager to know once one season finishes, is the date when the next set of fixtures are released. Now we have the all-important-other-half-inconveniencing list, all we need to know now is when and how the TV companies are going to spoil our best laid plans.

Andrew Glover