MARK Hughes is determined to make some home improvements next season as part of his plan to transform Blackburn Rovers into a top 10 Premiership force.

The ambitious Ewood chief is acutely aware that Rovers fans have only seen 10 home victories in the Premier League over the last two seasons and he knows that record must improve if he is to succeed in taking the club onto the next level over the course of the next 12 months.

The fixture list for the new campaign, which was formally unveiled yesterday, has given Hughes the perfect chance to make a flying start to his second term in the Ewood hot-seat, with only two teams from the top half of last season's table due to visit Ewood before the middle of January.

That means eight of Rovers' first 10 home games are against sides who either finished in the bottom half or won promotion from The Championship at the end of last season, so Hughes will impress upon his players the importance of accumulating as many points as possible during the first half of the campaign.

Rovers' chief executive John Williams said today: "We've got to do better at home next season - I think everyone at the club recognises that.

"We've short-changed our fans at home over the last two years. We've only won 10 games in two seasons in the league at Ewood and that's not enough.

"But I'm looking forward to a better home campaign under Mark this time. I think we've got the squad to do that, providing we get in a striker or two this summer, which we are working hard on doing."

Rovers' wretched home form was expected to have an impact on season ticket sales for the coming season but so far numbers would appear to be holding up.

With 24 hours to go before the deadline expires for current season ticket holders to reserve their seats, the club say the number of fans who have renewed to date is virtually on a par with the same stage last year.

"Overall, the numbers are neck and neck with where we were at this point last year and we are happy with that at this stage," said Williams.

In the meantime, Rovers are satisfied on the whole with the way the fixture list has panned out for next season.

Hughes' side would appear to have a number of winnable games early on, with West Ham (a), Fulham (h), Tottenham (h) and Aston Villa (a) providing the opposition in the opening weeks of the season.

"I don't think anyone would choose to play a promoted side (West Ham) away from home on the opening day of the season," added Williams.

"But that said, the first half dozen games give us a decent chance of getting off to a good start.

"From a commercial point of view, we're a little bit disappointed we don't have a home game on either Boxing Day (Middlesbrough, away) or New Year's Eve (Wigan, away).

"It's a bit hard on our fans to have to go to Middlesbrough on Boxing Day when there's so many north west derbies in the Premiership next season.

"But generally speaking, we've got to be happy. The day the fixtures come out is one of the most exciting in the year and we're looking forward to another season in the best league in the country."