THE publication of the 2013-14 fixture list presents another set of mouth-watering prospects for the new Championship season – although it also presents one or two challenges for the committed travelling supporter.

Yeovil away on Easter Monday calls for real commitment – unless it can be combined with an Easter holiday in the West Country!

Although the Football league clubs called for an early start to the season to reduce the number of mid-week matches, it didn’t prevent a mid-week trip to Bournemouth at the end of January.

On the other hand, the fixture list has been kind to us with home games over Christmas and only a short trip to Burnley on New Year’s Day.

The Yorkshire derbies all fall on a Saturday – excluding Middlesbrough, which strangely has come out as two Tuesday matches again – so HTSA will be pressing for discussions with the club and West Yorkshire Police on the arrangements to be put in place.

Not that long now to the start of the season but, more immediately, HTSA will be represented at this weekend’s Supporters Conference at the FA’s new training centre, St George’s Park, near Burton-on-Trent.

Saturday promises to be an intensive day with an opening plenary followed by a comprehensive set of workshops with expert panels who will be discussing football finance, fan engagement, away fans’ pricing, sustainability, transparency, asset protection, supporter ownership, safe standing and discrimination.

And there’s more. Friday’s activities include a workshop on Supporter Liaison Officers then a meeting of Championship Supporters Trusts with the Supporters Direct AGM in the evening.

The agenda seeks to address all the main issues for football supporters and it is hoped to report on the key findings in next week’s column.