BREWERS skipper John Mousinho says the release of the Championship fixtures will focus the Brewers squad on an exciting season to come.
He says: “The fixtures set a marker down and now we can get our heads down, start the hard work and look forward to the season.
“Every time a season finishes you are desperate for a break but once it gets to this time of year you are desperate to get back into it. It will be great to get back to the football environment, see the lads and have all these fixtures to look forward to."
The Brewers begin the campaign away at Nottingham Forest.
The skipper said: “Any fixture we had on the opening day was going to be exciting but there’s extra spice to playing Nottingham Forest with it being a local derby and the manager’s connections there as well. The fact that fans don’t have to go far and it’s a beautiful stadium will all help make it a memorable game.”
Derby County are early visitors to the Pirelli on August 27.
Mousinho says: “A lot of fans I spoke to at the back end of last season were really looking forward to playing Derby. There has always been a strong connection between the two clubs with the fans, players and managers. Several of the current squad live in Derby so that’s going to be a really exciting fixture.
“There’s going to be a lot of talk about fixtures against the big clubs historically like Villa and Newcastle. We have to make sure we don’t get carried away about playing these clubs. We aren’t playing the stadiums and the history or the wage bills, just against 11 other players.
"The success we have had in the last couple of years has been based around respecting teams but not overestimating them and that’s what we will continue to do.”