5 Takeaways from the 2025-26 Crewe Alexandra Fixture List

Happy Fixture Release Day everyone. I say it every year, but I enjoy this day as we learn who the opponents for our clubs opponents will be and in what order for the coming season. On top of that we get the cup draws, so this really does feel like the day the new season commences. Not July 1st when old contracts expire and the transfer window officially opens and new signings are registered. So, we learnt who Crewe Alex will face today and there were a number of different takeaways. Let's get into them:

Local Starts + Local Ends

The fixture computer has been kind to the Alex in that their opening 2 and closing 4 away games are all relatively close distances. Salford on the opening day and Fleetwood in midweek a few weeks later, with Stockport in the League Cup, is a nice way to get the season started. Similarly at the end where they play Shrewsbury, Accrington, Grimsby and Chesterfield, mark 6-7 games where they will be able to take a decent number of away fans(Grimsby aside perhaps) at the critical points of the season.

Mind the Gap

I do like looking through the fixtures to identify quirks. And the gap between the 2 games against Salford and Accrington do stand out. Their first home game of the season is against Accrington. Stanley won't make the return visit until game 41 in early April, which is a 39 game, almost 8 month gap. Salford is even more pronounced, as the Alex open the season against them, but the return fixture is game 42. That's a 248 day gap between the 2 fixtures. I don't think I've ever seen this and I think it's rather unusual.

Boxing Day Away, Ole Ole

Every year, I have one wish. A Boxing Day home game. Well, for the 4th straight year, I've been disappointed, as they have been scheduled away yet again. I do think it's a joke that these sorts of runs can be allowed to happen. For me, given how lucrative a Boxing Day home game can be, there should be a rule that says you can't go more than 2-3 years without being allocated one.

Going back to 2001-02, the Alex have been given 9 home Boxing Day games compared to 17 away from home. It's unacceptable and the prospect of making even a moderately short trip to Walsall for the 2nd time in 3 years on this date isn't one that fills me with much excitement.

As a side note, I find it interested that in 23-24, they played Walsall away on December 26th and then travelled to Newport on December 29th. They will do the same visits on the same dates 2 years later.

Tuesdays

Looking at when the midweek fixtures fall, it's notable that they have only two in 2025, that being Fleetwood in August and Newport in December(As another aside, I notice that they will go just 20 days between those Newport games, another fun quirk). Unlike most seasons where we see 1-2 Tuesday games scheduled in September or October, none have been arranged in those months which is rather unusual.

Obviously the flip side is that more are shoved in 2026, when they have 3, including 2 long trips to Bromley and Cheltenham. What this does show though is only 5 Tuesday night games are currently scheduled, which is very low. We know this will increase, as there will be games moved for cup, international and weather related issues, plus we'll see several moved out of their 3pm kick off slots for TV. But for now, there are around 35 Saturday kick offs and that is a good thing.

Balanced

By far my biggest take away from the fixtures is how well balanced they appear to be for the Alex. Yes, the season is still 5 weeks away and we're at least 2 more months away from knowing who the actual contenders will be, but a glance right now says there isn't one section of their schedule which looks more daunting than any other.

This image from Experimental361 on Twitter shows just how balanced their fixtures are based on early betting odds for who will be likely to contend and who won't:

The only standout section is towards the end of the season, where 3 of their final 5 games look tough. But as we know, who the bookies favourites are now will dramatically change once the season starts. What looks to be a soft run here or a tough run there will suddenly flip on it's head. So overall, whilst there is disappointment over the Boxing Day fixture being away from home and whilst there aren't many standout fixtures, this looks a very well balanced set of games. Now it's about ticking off the days until the fun and dramas start for real.