Russell Slade will kick off his first full season in charge of Cardiff City with a home game against Fulham on the opening day of the 2015-16 campaign.
The First Six
Cardiff usually start off the season strongly before their form dips around February and March time. This season could well be different for the Bluebirds though as their first six games offer very tough tests both at home and away from the Cardiff City Stadium.
Their home fixtures come against Fulham, Wolverhampton Wanderers and Huddersfield Town whilst they face difficult trips to QPR, Blackburn Rovers and Nottingham Forest. A win on the opening day against a recently struggling Fulham could boost confidence before playing QPR and Blackburn in the space of three days.
Severnside Derby Days
A fixture that all Cardiff fans were looking out for was Bristol City, home or away. The bluebirds welcome the League 1 champions on Saturday 24th October then travel to Ashton Gate on Saturday 5th March.
Cardiff have won 7 out of the last 10 meetings including a 6-0 win at Ashton Gate back in January 2010. The last meeting ended in a 2-1 win for Cardiff with Fraizer Campbell grabbing both goals.
That was the season where City suffered relegation to League 1, however the Robins are now back in the second tier and the rivalry will pick up where they left off.
New Year Troubles
As previously mentioned, Cardiff's form almost always dips around spring time. Could this 2016 be the year where they finally break the mould?
Quite possibly, as February see's a run of generous fixtures with home games against MK Dons, Brighton and Hove Albion, Rotherham United and Preston North End along with a visit to Charlton Athletic.
March gets a little tougher with a trip to Bristol City for the Severnside derby and also a short trip to Reading. They face tricky home games against Leeds United and Ipswich Town. If Cardiff are to build on their 11th place finish last season, these two months are the biggest points of their season.
Final thoughts
Ultimately Cardiff fans just don't want to have another season stranded in midtable again. For manager Russell Slade to grant that wish he really needs his side to bring the confidence of their strong finish to last season into their tough run in during August.
While Cardiff need to strengthen their squad in almost every department, they need to do it quick before they face August with an underwhelming squad and miss out on valuable early season points.