Barnsley will open the delayed 2020-2021 Championship season with a fixture against another of last season’s great escapists Luton Town.
Following lockdown you would have been forgiven for thinking Barnsley v Luton in 2020-2021 would be a League One fixture as the teams came back in June six (Luton) and seven (Barnsley) points adrift of safety but in the remaining nine games the two teams gained a combined 31 points to finish three (Luton) and one (Barnsley) point(s) clear following Wigan’s 12 point deduction.
The two sides will open the season at Oakwell on Saturday 12th September with Barnsley looking for a first win in four against the Hatters whilst Luton will be looking to win at Oakwell for the fourth time in five visits.
The two sides met at Oakwell in the opening month of last season where a catastrophic start from Barnsley saw them 2-0 behind in the opening four minutes and 3-0 down after 31, going on to lose 3-1, however this is the first time they have ever met on the opening day.
It also means Barnsley have started with home games in three successive seasons for the first time since 2012-2013, 2013-2014 and 2014-2015.
Following this Barnsley make the 190mile and over three hour trip to Berkshire to take on Reading looking for their first win in four at the Madejski. It is the first time Barnsley’s first away league game of a season has been at Reading since 1960-1961, when they followed up an opening day 4-1 home win over Coventry with a 1-0 win at Elm Park in the third tier.
The trip to Reading is Barnsley’s only away game in September as they also face Nottingham Forest (in the EFL Cup) and Coventry at Oakwell in a four game opening month before facing six games in October (three at home and three away)
December looks like being a very tough month with a massive EIGHT Championship games crammed into the festive month including THREE Yorkshire derbies against Sheffield Wednesday, Huddersfield and Rotherham plus a first meeting with relegated Bournemouth in six years and a first ever second tier meeting with League One Play-Off winners Wycombe.
Barnsley's final game of the season looks tough on paper as they conclude at Oakwell with a match against Norwich City who finished bottom of the Premier League in 2019-2020 after winning the Championship title in 2018-2019. However if Norwich are expected to do as well as pundits predict Reds fans can take solace from 2019-2020 when they faced a side who needed to win to gain promotion on the final day in Brentford but came away with that memorable 2-1 victory to secure their own survival.
It will be the first time Norwich have been the final visitors to Oakwell since 2001-2002 when a 2-0 Canaries victory dropped Barnsley into the third tier for the first time in 21 years.
Incidentally, it will be the first time Barnsley have both started and finished a league season with home games since 2014-2015.
Other key dates are as follows:
Sheffield Wednesday away (12th December)
Huddersfield home (Boxing Day)
Rotherham away (29th December)
Norwich away (First game of 2021)
Sheffield Wednesday home (20th March)
Huddersfield away (21st April)
Rotherham home (24th April)
Preston away (Final away game 1st May)
Full fixtures can be found by clicking here