IT'S fixture release day across the EFL - and Wanderers fans will be able to map out their season in League One.
Who will Wanderers face on the opening day? How will the Christmas fixtures pan out? When will the local games at Accrington, Rochdale and Bury we played?
Here we take a look at some of the good, the bad and the ugly curtain raisers to previous seasons, starting with the very first weekend of the Football League.
Division One
September 8, 1888 Wanderers 3 Derby County 6
THE original curtain-raiser, Wanderers kicked-off their Football League existence with the competition’s first-ever goal, scored by Kenny Davenport (pictured) after two minutes at Pikes Lane.
Despite leading 3-0 after 20 minutes, the Whites went on to lose the game handsomely.
Division One August 18, 1951 Wanderers 5 Aston Villa 2 VILLA raced into a two-goal lead despite losing goalkeeper Joe Rutherford to a hand injury after only 20 minutes.
He returned to the field, facing a landslide of Bolton goals. Harry Webster scored twice for the Whites, who finished fifth in the top flight that year, with other goals from Andrew Langford, Willie Moir and the great Nat Lofthouse.
Division Two
August 21, 1965
Wanderers 4 Charlton Athletic 2
FRANNY Lee scored twice as Wanderers made an impressive start 50 years ago – but that isn’t what sticks in the memory for the statisticians.
Warwick Rimmer also got on the scoresheet with Billy Bonds putting through his own goal. Keith Peacock would steal everyone’s thunder, however, by becoming the first-ever substitute used in a Football League match in the second half.
Division Two
August 20, 1977
Burnley 0 Bolton Wanderers 1
IAN Greaves’s side were destined for greatness in the 1977-78 season – and it was his namesake, the great Roy Greaves, who got things up and running with the only goal of a bad-tempered game at Turf Moor.
The ever-versatile captain Greaves missed just two games in the promotion-winning campaign and scored 10 goals in all competitions.
Division Two August 15, 1993
Wanderers 2 Huddersfield Town 0
LIFE under Bruce Rioch made a thrilling start as Andy Walker scored after just a minute at Burnden Park – one of 33 goals the Scot would manage that season.
Julian Darby scored the second goal to give new boss Rioch the perfect start, in what would end up being a promotion party for the Whites.
Premier League
August 18, 2001
Leicester City 0 Wanderers 5
Back in the top flight, Sam Allardyce’s newly-promoted Wanderers announced themselves in the big time with a bang at Filbert Street.
Kevin Nolan and Per Frandsen helped themselves to two goals apiece, with Michael Ricketts also getting on the scoresheet as Peter Taylor’s side were swept away.
Premier League August 14, 2004
Wanderers 4 Charlton Athletic 1
JAY-JAY Okocha provided two moments of magic in the sunshine to get a historic campaign off to the best-possible start.
Wanderers, en route to their first-ever European qualification, swept Charlton aside with two superb goals from the Nigerian master and another pair from Great Dane, Henrik Pedersen.
Premier League August 16, 2008
Wanderers 3 Stoke City 1
AFTER the great escape the previous season things seemed to be looking up at Wanderers as club record signing Johan Elmander scored on his debut against Stoke.
The £8.2million Sweden international added a third after Gretar Steinsson and Kevin Davies had cracked the newly-promoted Potters.
Premier League August 13, 2011
QPR 0 Wanderers 4
WHO knew what misery awaited them when Wanderers started so perfectly at Loftus Road?
Gary Cahill’s 25-yard scorcher set the scene before an own goal from Danny Gabbidon and further strikes from Ivan Klasnic and Fabrice Muamba.
Wanderers remain one of only two top-flight sides to have scored four goals on the opening day of the season and get relegated, the other being Blackpool 12 months earlier.
Championship August 4, 2018
West Brom 1 Wanderers 2
NOBODY could have predicted that Phil Parkinson’s men – who had only stayed up by the skin of their teeth the previous season – would take three points at the Hawthorns.
Josh Magennis scored on his debut to give the Whites an early lead before Harvey Barnes levelled for the Baggies.
A point would have been celebrated but loan winger Yanic Wildschut popped up with two minutes to go to snatch a victory.
As we know, it would once again prove a false dawn.
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