Town midfielder Andrew Shinnie was on hand this morning to give his thoughts on the Championship fixtures release, that sees the Hatters take on Middlesbrough at Kenilworth Road in the opening game of the 2019/20 campaign.
A scintillating season from the Scotsman played a big factor in the Town’s promotion, who couldn’t wait to see who the club got, having last played in the second tier in 2016 for Birmingham City.
He said: “I was up early waiting for the fixtures to come out, it’s an exciting time and once they came out it was great to see some massive games and a big one to start off with, a Friday night against Middlesbrough.
“There’s a great atmosphere at the Kenny and under the lights on a Friday night it will be brilliant, especially with Sky here. Middlesbrough are a massive club. Coming to the Kenny it will be a very difficult game and we have got a new manager as well. Two new managers, we’ve come up from League One, we’ve got a lot of confidence and momentum and we are going to give it our best shot.”
Whilst the former Blues midfielder was on the look out for the games against the St Andrews based side, he was most looking forward to seeing when the Hatters take on Derby County.
The Rams revealed in May that Andrew’s brother Graeme had penned a three-year contract with them, following the expiration of his deal with Scottish Premier League Aberdeen.
“The Derby one was the one I was looking for with my brother just signing there, it’s going to be great coming up against him,” Shins continued. “Derby are a big club, a great stadium and it will be great to come up against my brother and I am looking forward to seeing him do well for Derby and hopefully the two games will be great games.
“Obviously if Derby had been promoted it would have been great for Graeme, but I was looking forward to playing against him this season – obviously if they went up that wasn’t going to happen. So I am looking forward to playing in front of my mum and dad. It will be two good games for my mum and dad to come and watch, two of their sons playing against each other.
“I think they’re going to have to buy a place down here otherwise it’s going to cost them a lot in flights! They came down to me every now and again, every month really to a game, but now Graeme is down here as well, it’s not going to be easy to go and watch both games, but they always make a good effort to come and watch, so I am sure they will do the same this season.”
The 29-year-old is looking forward to getting back into the swing of things having started off the summer celebrating promotion with his team-mates, before heading out to Croatia with his girlfriend.
He explained: “Vegas was great times, carnage with the boys. We just went over there and celebrated, everyone had a great time and it was really good. I had a good break in Croatia, got back in the early hours of yesterday. Back doing the housework and sorting out the garden, straight back to reality.
“But it’s good to be back at the Kenny, seeing the fixtures this morning and back for training next week.”