It doesn't feel that long ago that the 2008/09 Premier League season had concluded, with champions Manchester United trying their best to relegate Hull with their reserve side and Newcastle United and Middlesbrough losing their fight with the trap door.
But the countdown to the 2009/10 season is now fully underway after the fixtures were released this morning for the up coming season.
The release of the fixtures is always somewhat of a formality, a season is not going to organise itself, but for promoted sides from the Premier League down to League Two it tends to be a much anticipated event, as newly promoted sides find out who they will face first in new surroundings.
It's not so much an event for those sides who have been relegated though, remembering times of old and realising times of new, as they also get used to new surroundings and more humble opponents.
Newcastle United and West Bromwich Albion will have to wait a few days longer than Middlesbrough to realise what its like to be a Championship side, as they face each other on the opening day of the season, with Middlesbrough taking on Sheffield United at home, who will want to stamp their authority early, as they look to go one step further than last season.
The focus of today though is without doubt on the Premier League, and there are some intriguing matches in the opening weekends of the season.
Most of the focus lies with the new boys, Burnley, Wolves and Birmingham, and its the boys in blue who have drawn the short straw, opening their campaign with an away trip to Manchester United. I'm sure though that many Birmingham fans will be thinking that not only will it be a nice away day in the, normal, opening day sun, but it will be good to get the toughest fixture of the season out the way from the off.
Manchester United couldn't have asked for an easier start to the season, starting with Birmingham at home they then become Burnley's first home opponents in the Premier League, rounding off the opening trio of matches with the slightly tougher prospect of Wigan Athletic away.
Burnley, the surprise package of last year's Championship open with an interesting match away to Stoke, and with the adrenaline, no doubt, running high throughout their squad, Burnley and Owen Coyle would fancy getting a point, or maybe three, at the Britannia, before they entertain Manchester United three days later.
As for the champions of last year's Championship, Wolverhampton Wanderer's, Mick McCarthy and his men will be hoping that they do not reproduce their one season cameo they had in the 2003/04 season, and in theory are best placed to be more than a one season wonder, after having the longest of the three teams to prepare for the up coming Premier League campaign.
Wolves open up with a home game, the only one of the three promoted sides to do so, against West Ham United. Not the toughest of fixtures, but one that McCarthy will not be taking lightly against Gianfranco Zola's side.
59 days and counting, then, till the new Premier League season. It will have to go some way to beat last year's story book season, which saw twists and turns from top to bottom of the league throughout the nine months, and with Wolves, Birmingham and Burnley joining the party, its set to be yet another magnificent season of Premier League football.
Opening Day Fixtures:
Aston Villa vs Wigan Athletic
Blackburn Rovers vs Manchester City
Bolton Wanderers vs Sunderland
Chelsea vs Hull City
Everton vs Arsenal
Manchester United vs Birmingham City
Portsmouth vs Fulham
Stoke City vs Burnley
Tottenham Hotspur vs Liverpool
Wolverhampton Wanderers vs West Ham United
*Matches to be played the weekend of the 15th/16th/17th of August
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