Fixture Friday Ahead

The fixture list for the new season will be published by the SPFL on Friday morning. As players across the country prepare for their pre-season drills, fans can begin to fill calendars with dates for the new campaign.

Last season's opener resulted in a 2-1 home loss to Rangers but the previous four league campaigns started with wins. Early success can generate a feeling of optimism but the outcome of that first game has little effect on the position we will occupy in May.

The fixtures announcement signals that we are soon to enter another season that will come with the inevitable thrills and spills. Stephen Robinson appears to have his plans well underway for his second full term in charge.

Liam Donnelly and Mark Gillespie have already been added to the Motherwell squad before the players return to Fir Park after their short summer break. This close season will see fine tuning rather than the complete overhaul of the squad a year ago.

There has been no announcement (as yet) of any training camp but the pre-season schedule has been announced before the first Betfred fixture against Edinburgh City on July 17. A few warm-up games will take place before the competitive matches start in mid-July.

The calendar so far is

Saturday, 30 June: Crusaders (A), Seaview, Belfast. Kick off 1pm

Sunday, 8 July: Darlington (A), Blackwell Meadows. Kick off 2pm

Thursday, 12 July: Dunfermline Athletic (A), East End Park. Kick off 7.30pm.

 Motherwell's opening league games 2000-2017