5-7th Aug: Previous seasons getting underway in early August

[ClaretTony]

Not so much an on this day but more on these days as a number of seasons kicked off in the early days of August. Most of them fairly recent so I'm sure there will be recollections.



I think the earliest date we've ever kicked off a season was 3rd August and that came seven years ago when a Danny Ings goal gave us a 1-1 home draw against Bolton. It was shown live on television as part of the Football League's big weekend to celebrate its 125th anniversary with the two teams both having been founder members of the league. Ings gave us the lead with a deflected effort with Darren Pratley equalising for Bolton.
It might have been no more than a home draw but it kicked off a memorable season for us that saw us return to the Premier League under manager Sean Dyche who was kicking off his first season in charge.

Having beaten QPR 2-0 at home on the 5th in 2006, with both goals scored by debutant Steve Jones, Dyche played a part in one of two league games we played on the 6th. That was in 2011 when he enjoyed his first ever day as a manager at Turf Moor with his Watford team. They actually led 2-0 through Craig Forsyth and Mark Yeates but our two substitutes Charlie Austin and Keith Treacy ensured we kicked off the season with a point. Austin pulled one goal back on 77 minutes with Treacy getting the equaliser seven minutes later.

That was one point more than we got on opening day on the same day in 2005 when a Gifton Noel-Williams goal, on his debut, was no more than a consolation at Crewe. We lost 2-1. Gifton had equalised a Billy Jones goal, the same Jones who kicked off all the fun in a home game against Preston in 2010 but it was David Vaughan who got the winner for Crewe in the 89th minute on what remains our most recent competitive visit to Gresty Road.

Today is the 7th August and this is the first date we find when we've played three league games. The earliest of them was at Wycombe back in 1999 when another promotion season kicked off with a 1-1 draw as we'd seen with the Bolton game. This time it was us who had to come from behind after Jamie McSporran had scored for Wycombe. Andy Cooke got our equaliser and first goal of the season just over twenty minutes from the end.

There was another draw and another debutant on the mark with another debutant manager in 2004. Micah Hyde scored our goal against Sheffield United at home in what was Steve Cotterill's first game in charge of the Clarets. The goal came quite early in the game but it was future Claret and future Cotterill signing Andy Gray who scored the Blades' goal which came via a long throw in early in the second half.

One more game to go and one more debutant goalscorer. We'd just been relegated from the Premier League for the first time and opened up the 2010/11 season with a visit from Nottingham Forest with the game played on our new Desso pitch that wasn't ready. It was cutting up in lumps, caused a couple of injuries, but Chris Iwelumo bagged the only goal of the game to give us a 1-0 win.