Off Topic Friendlies 2021

Celtic away 17/7/21 5.30 pm

 

Bolton at the County Ground Leyland 17/7/21

 

St Johnstone away 13/7/21 7pm

 

Bamber Bridge 10/7/21 3 pm
Wigan 30/7/21 7pm both away

 

https://www.lancs.live/sport/football/football-news/preston-north-end-friendlies-season-20704104

 

Bamber Bridge v Preston North End 10/7/2021

Venue Irongate

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A Bamber Bridge club played in the late 19th century, but the modern club was established in 1952.[2] The new club joined the Preston & District League, progressing to the Senior Division.[2] In 1974 they merged with Walton-le-Dale, continuing in the Preston & District League. They went on to win the league's Guildhall Cup in 1978–79, before completing a Premier Division and cup double in 1980–81. After winning the Lancashire FA Amateur Shield in 1981–82 and another Guildhall Cup win in 1984–85, they won back-to-back Premier Division titles in the next two seasons, before winning a league and cup double in 1989–90.[4]

In 1990 Bamber Bridge moved up to Division Two of the North West Counties League.[5] Their second season in the league saw them win the division, resulting in promotion to Division One; they also reached the semi-finals of the FA Vase, where they lost 2–0 to Wimborne Town.[5] After finishing as runners-up in Division One in the following season (1992–93), a second successive promotion was achieved when the club moved up to Division One of the Northern Premier League.[5]

In 1994–95, a second-place finish saw Bamber Bridge promoted to the Premier Division, with the club also winning the league's Challenge Cup in their first season in the league and victory in the final of the Lancashire FA Challenge Trophy. The following season they won the Premier Division, which would have usually resulted in promotion to the Football Conference. However, Irongate was not deemed up to standard for the fifth tier, and the club remained in the Northern Premier League,[6]

In 1999–2000 Bamber Bridge reached the first round of the FA Cup for the first time. After beating St Albans City 2–0, they lost 1–0 at Cambridge United in the second round.[5] The club remained in the Premier Division until the end of the 2001–02 season, in which they finished bottom; although they beat Radcliffe Borough 3–2 in the promotion/relegation play-off semi-final, they were beaten 2–1 by Ashton United in the final.[5]

Although Bamber Bridge returned to the Premier Division as a result of league restructuring following the creation of the Conference North and South, their stay was short-lived as they were relegated to Division One at the end of the 2004–05 season.[5] However, the season did see them win the President's Cup. When the league added a third division in 2007, the club were placed in Division One North.[5]

A fourth-place finish in 2013–14 saw Bamber Bridge qualify for the promotion play-offs. After beating Warrington Town 1–0 in the semi-finals, they lost 3–2 to Ramsbottom United in the final.[5] In the following season they finished third, again qualifying for the play-offs, this time losing 2–0 to Darlington 1883 in the final after beating Northwich Victoria 2–1 in the semi-final.[5] A fourth-place finish in 2017–18 saw the club reach the play-offs, in which they defeated Tadcaster Albion 2–1 in the semi-finals and Prescot Cables 1–0 in the final to earn promotion to the Premier Division.

Ground[edit]
Following the 1974 merger, the club played at the King George's Playing Field.[2] In 1983 they purchased a plot of derelict land to build their own ground, with the name Irongate taken from the local area.[2] The first game was played in August 1987.[7] The ground was officially named the Sir Tom Finney Stadium after Finney's death in 2014.[8] It currently has a capacity of 3,000, of which 554 is seated and 800 covered.[1]

The record attendance of 2,300 was set for a friendly match against the Czech Republic national team shortly before Euro 96, as the Czechs were using Irongate as a training ground;[7] the result was a 9–1 win for the Czechs.[6] The ground has also hosted the home games of the Preston North End women's team and is currently the home of Blackburn Rovers Ladies.[9]


Macs view

Football may be coming home on football but the real stuff is four weeks away, the Whites head down the A6 to Bamber Bridge for the traditional curtain raiser. Usually a good work out in recent years we have split the squad the first selected eleven usually play for 60 mimnutes then teh rest complete the game.
Whether Frankie will stick to this we'll soon find out.
Been to the ground loads of times, nightmare for parking, decent bar and you can watch trains if teh game is boring.
Forecast is possibly for thunder and lightning on Saturday take a brolley if you are going and don't forget to have a negative Covid test.
If you are thre buy a programme, have a brew, a pire or a pint, buy a lottery tickets, the extra cash is a life blood for clubs like this they deserve support given the last 18 months.

 

Preston North End will begin their pre-season campaign this weekend as they make the short trip to face Bamber Bridge on Saturday afternoon.

The game, which kicks off at 3pm, will no doubt be a special occasion for many as it will be the first time since March 2020 that North End supporters can attend a first team fixture.

1,300 spectators will be in attendance* for what is a sell-out at the Sir Tom Finney Stadium and the PNE fans among them will get their first opportunity to cast their eyes over some of the club's newer players.

Summers signings Izzy Brown and Matthew Olosunde could make their non-competitive debuts for the club, while January signings – the likes of Ben Whiteman and Ched Evans – will finally get the chance to introduce themselves to the Lilywhites' supporters.

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Declan Rudd and Patrick Bauer, who both missed the second half of last season with injury, will also be hoping to feature in this one following months of hard work in recovery.

In terms of the opposition, PNE have faced Brig fairly regularly in recent pre-season campaigns, although the two didn’t get chance to meet last summer.

July 2019 was the last meeting between the two sides, with Louis Moult and Tom Clarke getting the goals in a 2-0 victory.

Winning margins have been much more convincing in the past, too, with North End having won 7-0 in both 2017 and 2018.

Bamber Bridge will be hoping their July preparations will be followed by a full season for the first time in a few years, given that their past two Northern Premier League campaigns have been curtailed early due to Covid-19.

PNE will be Brig’s second opponents of pre-season, having faced Barnoldswick Town last weekend in a 1-1 draw.

Supporters attending should be aware that there is no public car parking available on the day at the club.

For those supporters who have not managed to get tickets for this fixture, the game will be available to watch online, with full details to be confirmed prior to kick-off.

*Supporters are reminded that, as per rules set by Lancashire County Council, they will need to provide evidence of a negative lateral flow test in order to gain entry to this fixture. Click here for more details.

 

Game off waterlogged pitch

 

PNE 8-3 Bridge behind closed doors at PNE's training ground.

 

Match Report: Bamber Bridge 3-8 Preston North End

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Preston North End got their 2021/22 pre-season campaign underway with a 8-3 victory against Bamber Bridge.

Unfortunately, this fixture was unable to be played at the Sir Tom Finney Stadium in front of spectators as initially planned due to standing water on the pitch, despite the best efforts of ground staff and volunteers.

The teams instead faced off at PNE’s Euxton training ground and the Lilywhites got off to a great start, going into half-time with the score at 4-1 thanks to goals from Lewis Leigh, Brad Potts, Tom Barkhuizen and Noah Mawene.


Josh Harrop, Emil Riis and a double from Sean Maguire added to the scoreline in the second half to cap off a positive start to pre-season.

PNE played two different teams in the first and second half, with Declan Rudd, Joe Rafferty and Patrick Bauer making their returns from injury in the opening 45, while teenagers Leigh and Joe Rodwell-Grant also started the game.

The Lilywhites weren’t made to wait too long for the lead as second-year scholar Leigh calmly slotted home on 16 minutes after being found in space by Scott Sinclair.

Brad Potts then came close twice in quick succession for the Lilywhites, firstly curling the ball with the outside of his right foot towards the bottom corner, only for the goalkeeper to tip it round the post, while it was defender Macauley Wilson a couple of minutes later who cleared another of his efforts off the goal-line.

Potts did get himself on the scoresheet soon after as he took the ball in well from Mawene, who showed great feet to beat the defender, and Pottsy fired past the goalkeeper with his left foot.

Mawene was involved again just a minute later as North End got a third, with the 16-year old being slotted into the box by captain Ryan Ledson, and he found Barkhuizen on the edge of the area to curl the ball into the bottom right corner.

To top off a brilliant cameo appearance for the first-year scholar, Mawene got himself on the scoresheet on 39 minutes, as he diverted Josh Earl’s header past the goalkeeper.

Bamber Bridge got one back just before the break as Jamie Thomas beautifully curled the ball out of Rudd’s reach into the top right-hand corner.

North End came out with a completely different XI in the second half, with first-year scholar Josh Seary among those involved.

Also back in a PNE shirt was Josh Harrop after a loan spell at Ipswich Town last season and it took him just eight minutes to get on the scoresheet, curling the ball in from a 20-yard free-kick.

Mathew Hudson did well to keep out an effort from Matthew Thomson, while a Bamber Bridge defender frustrated Sean Maguire on the goal-line at the other end, but Seani got his goal less than 60 seconds later, with his deflected effort from 20 yards wrong footing the ‘keeper.

Thomas was on target again for the visitors a few minutes on as he hit another wonderful strike, this time from 30 yards, with the ball bouncing just in front of Hudson on its way into the net.

North End had a couple of chances to extend their lead again, with Emil Riis and Adam O’Reilly both denied from close range by goalkeeper Danny Roccia, before Maguire got his second by chipping the ball over Roccia one-on-one.

The scoring wasn’t quite finished there, with Mark Yeates’ free-kick finding the back of the net via the crossbar, and Emil Riis found time with the last kick of the game to make it 8-3, keeping calm after taking on the goalkeeper to slot home.

First half XI: Rudd, van den Berg, Bauer, Earl, Rafferty, Barkhuizen, Ledson, Leigh, Potts, Sinclair, Rodwell-Grant (Mawene, 28).

Second half XI: Hudson, Seary (Coulton, 76), Storey, Lindsay, Cunningham, Whiteman, Bayliss, O’Reilly, Harrop, Maguire, Riis.

 

Man U Deepdale 31/7/21

 

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St Johnstone Football Club is a professional football club in Perth, Scotland. The name of the football club derives from St. John's Toun – the old name of Perth. Although it is officially recorded as being formed in 1884, the club did not play its first game until February 1885. The club's home since 1989 has been McDiarmid Park. The club's first Scottish Cup appearance was in 1886–87 and they joined the Scottish Football League in 1911–12.

St Johnstone won the Scottish Football League First Division, the second tier of league football in Scotland, in 2008–09. This gained them promotion to the Scottish Premier League, bringing a return of SPL football to McDiarmid Park for the 2009–10 campaign after a seven-year absence. The club have historically floated between the top two divisions of Scottish football, obtaining the reputation of being a "yo-yo club". Their traditional rivals are the two Dundee clubs, Dundee and Dundee United, with matches between St Johnstone and either Dundee club being called Tayside derbies.

The club had limited success in cup competitions for the first 130 years of its history, losing at the semi-final stages on numerous occasions as well as losing

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two Scottish League Cup finals. The club won their first Scottish Cup in 2014 with a 2–0 win against Dundee United. In 2020–21, St Johnstone won their first League Cup and second Scottish Cup to complete a historic Cup double. They defeated Livingston 1–0 in the League Cup final and Hibernian 1–0 in the Scottish Cup final, becoming only the second club outwith the Old Firm to win both cups in the same season after Aberdeen.

They have also won the Scottish Second Tier seven times, the Scottish Challenge Cup in 2007, the B Division Supplementary Cup in 1949 and the Scottish Consolation Cup in 1911 and 1914. They have qualified for European competitions on seven occasions (four seasons consecutively from 2013 to 2016). Their highest league position in the top division was third place on three occasions: 1971, 1999 and 2013.

The club is notable for being the only professional football club in the UK to contain the letter J.

Manager

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Callum Iain Davidson (born 25 June 1976 in Stirling) is a Scottish professional football player and coach. He is the manager of St Johnstone. Davidson played as a left-back for St Johnstone, Blackburn Rovers, Leicester City and Preston North End between 1994 and 2014. At international level, Davidson represented Scotland on 19 occasions between 1998 and 2009. Since retiring as a player, Davidson has become a football coach, and was given his first full-time role in management with St Johnstone in June 2020.

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McDiarmid Park is a stadium in Perth, Scotland, used mainly for association football. It has been the home ground of Scottish Premiership side St Johnstone since its opening in 1989. The stadium has an all-seated capacity of 10,696.[1]

As well as St Johnstone matches, McDiarmid Park has been chosen to host the final of the Scottish Challenge Cup on nine occasions. It has also been used for rugby union, including a full international between Scotland and Japan in 2004, several Scotland A fixtures, and some home matches of the former Caledonia Reds team.


Over the border to Scotland brings back memeories of pre seasons from yesteryear when we rocked up usually on the East coast of Scotland, playing at places like Brechin, Montrose and Arbroath, once saw North End in a friendly at Kilmarnock were ex Scotland manager Ally Macleod was in the Supporters club at a Darts competion.
Sadly cannot go as they still have Covid restrictions hence a crowd of only 2000 when we hit Celtic Park on Saturday

 

Preston North End continue their pre-season schedule this evening with a trip to St Johnstone.

Played at McDiarmid Park, the game will get underway at 7pm and will take place in front of 1,000 home spectators, with away fans unfortunately unable to attend.



The St Johnstone supporters attending the game will be glad to get back to watching their team live, having missed the best season in the club’s history last year.

Former PNE defender Callum Davidson led his side to a remarkable cup double, winning both the Scottish Cup and Scottish League Cup.

Davidson, who played well over 150 times for North End, isn’t the only Lilywhites link, with striker Stevie May one of their star men.

The Scot scored ten goals in all competitions for the Saints last season, finishing as their top scorer.

This game makes up PNE’s first of the Scotland pre-season camp and the second of their preparations so far, having won 8-3 against Bamber Bridge last weekend.

The likes of Matthew Olosunde, Izzy Brown and Ched Evans all didn’t feature in that game, but have all travelled to Scotland and could play a part this evening.

Scholars Josh Seary, Noah Mawene and Lewis Leigh have also made the journey, as well as first-year professional goalkeeper Oliver Lombard.

 

1 up half time Whiteman

 

1 all

 

Apparently St J have just blasted a penalty into oblivion

 

1 all

 

City away 27/7/21

 

PNE were pegged back to a draw against St Johnstone as Ben Whiteman’s stunning opener was cancelled out in the second half.

North End took the lead on 35 minutes through a great effort by Whiteman, finding the back of the net from 25 yards via the crossbar.

St Johnstone levelled the scoring on 50 minutes through David Wotherspoon and he had the chance to give his side the lead five minutes later after Patrick Bauer was adjudged to have made a foul inside the area, but he blazed his penalty over the bar.



Sttarting from the off was Matthew Olosunde for his first appearance for the Lilywhites, while second-year scholar Lewis Leigh started his second game of pre-season.

After an even first 15 minutes, Mathew Hudson was called into action and he produced a great stop to prevent Ali McCann from inside the area, after Bauer’s clearance was intercepted.

At the other end, North End’s first shot on target came 27 minutes in, as Josh Harrop showed great feet to take the ball under control before manoeuvring it back onto his right foot and taking aim, but goalkeeper Zander Clark was equal to it.

The Lilywhites had the lead eight minutes later courtesy of a wonder strike from Whiteman, who had the captain's armband, as he curled the ball round the defender and in off the underside of the crossbar.

Olosunde almost doubled his new side’s lead soon afterwards, but he couldn’t keep his header down from six yards.

Whiteman was then at it again, this time from a free-kick, and he forced the ‘keeper into a smart save to his right. The ball rebounded out to Joe Rafferty, but his header was too high to trouble Clark.

North End went into the break a goal to the good and came back out with two new men, as Brad Potts and Tom Barkhuizen made their way on in place of Harrop and Olosunde.

Five minutes into the second half, the hosts capitalised on a loose clearance from goalkeeper Hudson and drew level, as Wotherspoon picked the ball up and found the far corner with great precision, despite the best efforts of Josh Earl running back towards the goal-line.

The Saints soon had a chance to turn the game on its head via the penalty spot, with the referee penalising Patrick Bauer for a supposed trip on Michael O’Halloran, but Wotherspoon fired the ball over the bar from 12 yards.

Just before PNE made wholesale changes on 60 minutes, O’Halloran almost put his side ahead, pouncing on a short header back to goal by Bauer, but he too sent his effort too high.

Ched Evans was one of the men to enter the fray in the seven changes made and he was found well in the area 77 minutes in, although he was just stretching for it and couldn’t quite make the connection he wanted, with his header going over the bar.

It was a competitive contest throughout and two yellow cards in the last 15 minutes epitomised that, with Brad Potts and St Johnstones’ Callum Hendry both going into the book for late challenges.

Starting XI: Hudson, van den Berg, Bauer, Earl, Olosunde (Barkhuizen, 46), Whiteman, Leigh, Rafferty, Harrop (Potts, 46), Riis, Maguire.

Final 30 XI: Hudson, Storey, Lindsay, Cunningham, Rafferty (Seary, 79), Bayliss, Ledson, Barkhuizen, Potts, Sinclair, Evans.

 

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The Celtic Football Club (/ˈsɛltɪk/ SEL-tik) is a Scottish professional football club based in Glasgow, which plays in the Scottish Premiership. The club was founded in 1887[nb 1] with the purpose of alleviating poverty in the immigrant Irish population in the East End of Glasgow after they had emigrated over to Britain as a result of the famine. They played their first match in May 1888, a friendly match against Rangers which Celtic won 5–2. Celtic established themselves within Scottish football, winning six successive league titles during the first decade of the 20th century. The club enjoyed their greatest successes during the 1960s and 70s under Jock Stein, when they won nine consecutive league titles and the 1967 European Cup. Celtic have played in green and white throughout their history, adopting hoops in 1903, which have been used ever since.

Celtic are one of only five clubs in the world to have won over 100 trophies in their history.[2] The club has won the Scottish league championship 51 times, most recently in 2019–20, the Scottish Cup 40 times and the Scottish League Cup 19 times. The club's greatest season was 1966–67, when Celtic became the first British team to win the European Cup, also winning the Scottish league championship, the Scottish Cup, the League Cup and the Glasgow Cup. Celtic also reached the 1970 European Cup Final and the 2003 UEFA Cup Final, losing in both.

Celtic have a long-standing fierce rivalry with Rangers, and the clubs are known as the Old Firm, seen by some as the world's biggest football derby. The club's fanbase was estimated in 2003 as being around nine million worldwide, and there are more than 160 Celtic supporters clubs in over 20 countries. An estimated 80,000 fans travelled to Seville for the 2003 UEFA Cup Final, and their "extraordinarily loyal and sporting behaviour" in spite of defeat earned the club Fair Play awards from FIFA and UEFA.

Celtic Park is the home stadium of Celtic Football Club, in the Parkhead area of Glasgow, Scotland. With a capacity of 60,411, it is the largest football stadium in Scotland, and the eighth-largest stadium in the United Kingdom. It is also known as Parkhead or Paradise.

Celtic was formed in 1887 and the first Celtic Park opened in Parkhead in 1888. The club moved to the current site in 1892, after the rental charge was greatly increased on the first. The new site was developed into an oval-shaped stadium, with vast terracing sections. The record attendance of 83,500 was set at an Old Firm derby on 1 January 1938.[note 1] The terraces were covered and floodlights installed between 1957 and 1971. The Taylor Report mandated that major clubs should have all-seater stadia by August 1994. Celtic was in a poor financial position in the early 1990s and no major work was carried out until Fergus McCann took control of the club in March 1994. The old terraces were demolished to develop a new stadium in a phased rebuild completed in August 1998. A section of rail seating was installed in 2016.

Celtic Park has been used as a venue for Scotland internationals and Cup Finals when Hampden Park has been unavailable. Before the First World War, Celtic Park hosted composite rules shinty-hurling, track and field and the 1897 Track Cycling World Championships. Open-air Masses and First World War recruitment drives were also held there. Celtic Park hosted the opening ceremony of the 2014 Commonwealth Games and has also been used for concerts by the Who and U2.

Angelos "Ange" Postecoglou (/ˈændʒˌpɒstəˈkɒɡluː/ANJ POS-tə-KOG-loo; Greek: Άγγελος Ποστέκογλου) is a Greek born Australian former football player and coach who is the current manager of the Scottish football club Celtic. Postecoglou, who previously managed the Australia national team, is one of the most successful Australian club coaches with two premierships, four championships and a continental title.

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MACS VIEW

For those who want to watch this the game is on Premier Sports on Saturday probably a damn sight more reliable than I Follow, our opponents had a slightly disappointing season
Suspect they will be slightly more forward in their preparation as the Scottish season starts on 31/7/21 useful test for us