IT doesn’t matter what position you hold in the game, the release of the new fixture list always has the potential to excite and intrigue.

Dean Holdsworth has sampled it as a player and as a manager but yesterday he read down the list of games for the first time as the owner of a football club.

The fixture computer has thrown up some interesting ties.

Phil Parkinson’s first game as manager will be at the Macron Stadium, his side to host one of the division’s best-supported clubs in Sheffield United on August 6.

The festive scheduling has been kind – home games against Shrewsbury Town and Scunthorpe United on Boxing Day and New Year’s Eve followed by a trip to Coventry City on January 2.

Easter weekend sees two local derbies, at Oldham on the Saturday and at home to Bury on the Monday.

Parkinson will welcome his former club Bradford City to the Macron Stadium on September 24 and makes a return to Valley Parade on February 18.

And the Whites will play their final regular game of the season at home to Peterborough United on April 30. Who knows where Wanderers will be by then but at the start of a new campaign anything is possible.

“It is different now,” Holdsworth told The Bolton News. “I’ve made the transition from player to manager and now to an owner but it’s still exciting.

“Football is my passion. You look down the list of games and I’m like everyone else picking out the ones which look tougher than the others.

“Things are happening now. We’re getting closer, the football is getting closer, and you can feel the enthusiasm building up around the club.”

Players report back for cardiac screening tomorrow, although the official start of pre-season will not be until early next week.

Whether the players report back to Lostock on Monday is yet to be decided as some changes are being made at the training ground.

The feeling of anticipation is gradually building around the club, however, and Holdsworth is happy to report progress is being made.

“It’s good to be talking about the football again,” he said. “We’ve got a lot going on – the University are coming in to help us with certain things in pre-season and we’ve spoken with the Bolton Wanderers Development Association about a few plans we have got to improve things at Lostock.

“I bumped into a few of the lads – Max Clayton, Zach Clough, Gary Madine and Kaiyne Woolery – and they can’t wait to get started, work with the new manager and get going again. Their enthusiasm really came across.

“From my point of view that’s great. We’re all raring to go now and when the fixtures come out it feels that little bit closer.”