The SPL fixture list for the new season is scheduled to appear on Monday 16 June. Mark McGhee can then start planning for his second season at the Fir Park helm. Can he improve on his first year in charge?

If Motherwell can add to the achievements of 2007/8 only the most spectacular superlatives could be used to describe our progress. While an improvement on the third place league finish might be unlikely, there are opportunities in the domestic (and European!!) cups.

The boost that the team got from winning last season's opener at Love Street was a fitting reward for the hard weeks spent in training. That victory bucked a disappointing trend as the table below shows.

Let's hope that a few more Ws can be placed in that table in the seasons ahead!

There will be a new venue on the rota as New Douglas Park in Hamilton has been added to the list of SPL compliant grounds. They will have a new grass surface (and undersoil heating) in place ready for the derby games. These will add some local rivalry to the league and it would be an ideal game for ne'erday. The last time the teams met at the start of the year was on January 1 1987 when the Accies were 4-2 winners at old Douglas Park.

The first round of games is scheduled for the weekend of August 9 and we can start to fill in our year planners next week.

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