CHRIS Turner has already labelled Hartlepool United's season as the "hardest league the club has ever played in" - and the newly released fixtures prove his point.

The biggest and most attractive game comes on Boxing Day when Pools will go to Elland Road to face Leeds United.

The return meeting with Simon Grayson's side on February 6 is sandwiched between trips to two other fallen giants Norwich (Jan 30) and Southampton (Feb 13), probably the toughest run of Football League fixtures the club has encountered.

Pools start and end the season with long away trips - MK Dons on August 8, and Brentford on May 8.

In between, in a campaign in which they will travel in excess of 10,000 miles, the longest mileage covered in a single season in the club's 101-year history, Pools' shortest trip, Leeds aside, is at Carlisle on Tuesday, December 1.

Their first home game is against Charlton on August 15, with the return trip at the Valley on January 9.

Pools entertain Southampton at Victoria Park on Tuesday, November 24.

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