This Saturday lunch, Championship football comes home when we host neighbours Preston North End.
And it does not start at 12:30pm. It starts at 10am, in the Boxoso Premier Suite.
Doors open at 10am
The Boxoso Premier Suite Fan Zone opens its doors at 10am on Saturday, two and a half hours before kick-off and it is set up for exactly the kind of build-up this fixture deserves.
Long tables. Pints moving across the bar. Food coming out steady. Giant screens. A live singer through the morning and a room that fills with white shirts and gets louder every half hour as the ground comes to life around it.
Anyone who was in there for the play-off run knows exactly what that room sounds like by the time it is time to go to your seat.
Food, drink and a proper morning
There is a full bar and food throughout, live music and screens showing the build-up to the biggest afternoon this ground has had in a long time. Bring your mates, bring your mum and dad, bring the lot of them. Grab a table, get a drink in and let Saturday build the way the best ones always do - slowly, loudly and together.
Get in early. Please.
Two things are true about Saturday. It is a 12:30pm kick-off and it will be the biggest crowd this stadium has seen for some time. Put them together and everything happens earlier than you are used to - the roads into Horwich, the car parks, the queues at the turnstiles.
The Boxoso Premier Suite also has a limited capacity, and once it is reached, entry stops. Supporters who were in there last season will know how quickly that point comes. On a day like this, it will come quicker.
So set off earlier than feels necessary. You will not regret it.
The full picture for Saturday morning
- 9am — Club Shop and Ticket Office open
- 10am — Boxoso Premier Suite Fan Zone opens, with live music through the morning
- 10:30am — Dreams 2 Reality Outdoor Fan Zone opens
- 11am — Turnstiles open
- 12:30pm — Kick-off, live on Sky Sports
The Bolton Stadium Hotel will be open as well.
And be in your seat for the walkout
Do not be stood on a concourse hearing it rather than watching it. Jade Assembly's rerecorded Our Town takes the teams out for the first time on Saturday — written about this town, recorded in it, by Bolton lads who never once said Manchester.
Get in early. Get involved. Get to your seat and keep it going for ninety minutes.
Come On You Whites!
Please enjoy your drink responsibly.