David Cuffley Malky Mackay's Watford will provide the opening day opposition as Norwich City kick off with a home fixture on their return to the Championship. The Hornets will be at Carrow Road on Saturday, August 7, as Paul Lambert's League One champions take on the side managed by one of the Canaries' Nationwide League title-winners of 2004.

David Cuffley

Malky Mackay's Watford will provide the opening day opposition as Norwich City kick off with a home fixture on their return to the Championship.

The Hornets will be at Carrow Road on Saturday, August 7, as Paul Lambert's League One champions take on the side managed by one of the Canaries' Nationwide League title-winners of 2004.

After a Carling Cup first round tie at home to Gillingham on August 10, City visit Scunthorpe United on August 14 for their first away match, before a home game against Swansea City and a trip to Nottingham Forest complete the August schedule.

Watford's visit adds a dash of spice to the opening day with the return of one of the Canaries' most popular players of modern times.

Scotland centre-half Mackay made 232 appearances for City, scoring 17 goals, in six years with the club. He skippered them in the 2002 play-off final against Birmingham and was a key figure in their promotion campaign two seasons later.

After finishing his playing career with Watford, he had a spell as caretaker manager at Vicarage Road, but was given the job on a permanent basis when Brendan Rogers resigned 12 months ago.

The Hornets were in relegation trouble for much of last season, but pulled clear to finish 16th in the Championship.

Watford were beaten 2-0 on their last visit to Carrow Road in April 2009, City's penultimate home match in the Championship before relegation.

At least one of City's senior squad will be looking forward to the possibility of taking on his former club, with winger Anthony McNamee starting his career with six years at Watford.

The eagerly-awaited East Anglian derby matches against Ipswich Town have been scheduled for Saturday, November 27, at Carrow Road, and Easter Saturday, April 23, at Portman Road. The games are usually moved to Sunday kick-offs, but City also have an Easter Monday home game against Derby.

November looks a potential humdinger of a month with the visit of Burnley followed by successive away trips to Millwall and Reading, then home games against Leeds and Ipswich.

Boxing Day brings the almost inevitable trip to Crystal Palace, with Sheffield United the visitors to Carrow Road two days later and another home game for City against Queens Park Rangers on New Year's Day.

City complete their away programme at Portsmouth and their final match is at home to Coventry on Sunday, May 8.

There are three blank Saturdays in the fixture calendar for international weekends - falling on September 4, October 9 and March 26.

Clubs have until June 25 to liaise with opponents over any date changes, while Sky TV are expected to announce their early selections for live coverage in the same period,

Ipswich begin their programme with a trip to Middlesbrough, while one of the more attractive opening day fixtures could be Derby's visit to newly-promoted Leeds. League One play-off winners Millwall visit Bristol City.

Brian Laws faces one of his former clubs as Burnley entertain Nottingham Forest.

t Norwich City's 2010/11 Championship fixtures:

August

Sat 7 Watford (H)

Sat 14 Scunthorpe (A)

Sat 21 Swansea (H)

Sat 28 Nottm Forest (A)

September

Sat 11 Barnsley (H)

Tue 14 Doncaster (A)

Sat 18 Preston (A)

Sat 25 Hull (H)

Tue 28 Leicester (H)

October

Sat 2 Bristol City (A)

Sat 16 QPR (A)

Tue 19 Crystal Palace (H)

Sat 23 Middlesbrough (H)

Sat 30 Cardiff (A)

November

Sat 6 Burnley (H)

Tue 9 Millwall (A)

Sat 13 Reading (A)

Sat 20 Leeds (H)

Sat 27 Ipswich (H)

December

Sat 4 Derby (A)

Sat 11 Portsmouth (H)

Sat 18 Coventry (A)

Sun 26 Crystal Palace (A)

Tue 28 Sheff Utd (H)

January

Sat 1 QPR (H)

Mon 3 Middlesbrough (A)

Sat 15 Cardiff (H)

Sat 22 Sheff Utd (A)

February

Tue 1 Millwall (H)

Sat 5 Burnley (A)

Sat 12 Reading (H)

Sat 19 Leeds (A)

Tue 22 Doncaster (H)

Sat 26 Barnsley (A)

March

Sat 5 Preston (H)

Tue 8 Leicester (A)

Sat 12 Bristol City (H)

Sat 19 Hull (A)

April

Sat 2 Scunthorpe (H)

Sat 9 Swansea (A)

Tue 12 Watford (A)

Sat 16 Nottm Forest (H)

Sat 23 Ipswich (A)

Mon 25 Derby (H)

Sat 30 Portsmouth (A)

May

Sun 8 Coventry (H)