Preston North End home match thread

[Jerseybean]

UP THE  CITY

Good day fellow-Reds, there are now an amazing 18,329 of us registered on this brilliant forum! It’s great to be looking forward to a new season together. Enjoy the season opener, which I’ll be watching from Mallorca

As we embark on a 46-game marathon (perhaps more if we make it to the play-offs) there is an air of positivity, optimism and excitement and based on what I have seen and heard it’s something rather more than the usual pre-season hope, as there is more evidence than usual to back-up the hype.

We look like a a really cohesive and competitive group which is more robust, with a greater level of fitness and an identity and a preferred way of playing which has evolved over time to suit the manager’s ethos and our strengths, basically a youthful and energetic team which is more balanced and has greater depth along with a genuine sense of togetherness - all key attributes in a Championship campaign.

Views of a selection of fans here: https://www.bristolpost.co.uk/sport/football/bristol-city-fans-new-season-8652950

With thanks to Davefevs as I couldn’t put it better myself….’Bristol City enter the 2023–24 season with a sense of stability. The previous two summers had been focussed on clearing out the dead-wood, reducing the cost of the playing budget and building a culture to take City forward into challenging for promotion to the Premier League. No easy task, but there does at least seem to be know-how in the camp as to how to get there, and therefore there is a plan in place. Now is “lift-off” as Nigel Pearson, his staff and his players try to execute and deliver against that plan.’

NP’s season preview: https://www.bcfc.co.uk/video/interviews/pearson-previews-season-opener-3/

And his presser ahead of PNE: https://youtu.be/pfO0_cIFrWk

Ryan Lowe pre-match: https://www.pnefc.net/news/2023/august/gaffer-says-north-end-are-ready-to-go/

Here’s their OS match preview: https://www.pnefc.net/news/2023/august/match-preview-bristol-city-a/

PNE have sold 1,250 tickets, which is a great effort considering the number of Preston fans that have made it  to Ashton Gate over recent seasons:

2016-17 Tuesday night match 579

2017-18 Tuesday night match 373

2018-19 Saturday match (can’t find any data for this one)

2019-20 no fans due to covid

2020-21 no fans due to covid

2021-22 Saturday match 750

2022-23 Saturday match 464

The home end is a all but sold out, so despite a hideous weather forecast there will be a really good crowd. Let's pack the Gate early the Club are offering 20% off all drinks in the concourse at Ashton Gate between 1pm and 2pm on Saturday!

It’s also Flag Day,  https://www.bristolpost.co.uk/news/bristol-news/bristol-city-flag-day-timings-8648387?utm_source=bristol_live_newsletter&utm_campaign=bcfc_newsletter2&utm_medium=email

Over the last ten seasons we have a decent opening day record having won 4, drawn 3 and lost 3.

A last gasp Rob Atkinson goal secured us a win when we faced them at Ashton Gate last season: https://youtu.be/USSFneosyS0

Midfielders Daniel Johnson and Josh Onomah left PNE at the end of June. Johnson, 30, made 312 league appearances for the Lilywhites after joining from Aston Villa in January 2015 and captained the side. Former Tottenham player Onomah, 26, joined on a short-term deal in January and made 13 Championship appearances. Earlier this week defender Bambo Diaby left to join Sheffield Wednesday.

Last month they added Odense midfielder Mads Frokjaer-Jensen for an undisclosed fee on a four-year deal. The 23-year-old scored 16 goals in 96 appearances in the Danish Superliga. Along with United States international midfielder Duane Holmes who joined from Huddersfield Town on a two-year contract, also for an undisclosed fee.

Will Keane from Wigan Athletic was also added on a two-year deal. The Republic of Ireland international returned after a loan spell in 2015 and joins for an undisclosed fee.

They signed striker Layton Stewart from Liverpool for an undisclosed fee. The 20-year-old, whose sole senior appearance for the Reds came in the EFL Cup last season, agreed a three-year contract at Deepdale.

On Wednesday they signed former Wigan defender Jack Whatmough on a three-year contract. The 26-year-old was a free agent after terminating his deal with the Latics last week because of repeated contractual breaches by the club's previous ownership.

Here’s an informative perspective from a PNE fan….

Us North End fans were pretty apprehensive (to put it mildly) about close season recruitment.

For the second summer in a row, our squad appeared to be in need of a massive overhaul. With loanees returning and several players leaving once their contracts expired, the squad had dwindled to little more than a first XI of senior players; you could count the number of genuinely commercially viable assets on one hand (if that). Given that last summer’s hopes had been dashed by near misses and a tightfistedness that led many to accuse the club of a lack of ambition and foresight, the mood was less than optimistic. Many thought the relative inertia of last summer would recur.

3-4 weeks of pre-season training passed with us welcoming only Calvin Ramsay (RB/RWB, season-long loan from Liverpool) into the fold. The atmosphere within the club had become positively toxic. Peter Ridsdale (remember him?), our Advisor to the Chairman, was verbally accosted by a few fans at a friendly against Bamber Bridge for the lack of movement on the transfer front (in many people’s opinion rightly so). We went to our now annual Benidorm pre-season piss up, sorry training camp, with a squad comprising more U18 players than first-teamers. It was all looking a bit grim.

But then out of nowhere, we were linked with a youngish attacking midfielder playing at OB in Denmark, Mads Frøjkær Jensen (we’d previously poached Emil Riis Jakobsen from the same market a couple of years ago). Many on our fans forum dismissed it, thinking it was yet more rumour-mongering by the club to deflect from the fact that they were probably twiddling their thumbs behind the scenes (we’re not a bunch of conspiracy theorists, we’re just very sceptical when it comes to the hierarchy’s intentions!).

But on July 11th, to much relief and fanfare, Jensen’s signing was confirmed (for, we think, around £1.1m). Most of us knew frok all about him but he was received with elation by us desperately thirsty fans. The fact that he had significant resale potential was also viewed as a big plus; there’s a collective feeling that we’ve relied too much on picking up ageing pros to help us stay in the Championship, players who offer us little chance of making a profit.

And then the floodgates opened. Duane Holmes arrived on a free from Huddersfield, Will Keane likewise from a Wigan in turmoil. The club then pulled a veritable rabbit out of the hat by landing highly rated Layton Stewart from Liverpool on a permanent contract, virtually the whole fanbase delighted that we seemed to be returning to a model of buying young, talented players who could make us a fortune in the long run. Just tonight (26/7) there’s speculation on the forum that we’ve already spoken to Jack Whatmough, a centre half who’s just been released from his contract at Wigan (since signed.)

But the transfer story that we can’t stop talking about is the return of Tom Cannon to Deepdale. He shone when he arrived in January on loan from Everton and the club were making all the usual noises about trying to re-sign him this summer. So far we’ve heard that the deal is already done, that he’s going to Sunderland instead, that he’s coming here on loan, that he’s coming here permanently. He was even pictured attending our pre-season friendly against Aberdeen, sitting in the director’s box with Ridsdale and taking pictures with the fans! Many feel he is the crucial missing piece we need to acquire if we’re to have any hope of mounting a play-off bid (a hope that is a slim one at that). In all honesty, we have no idea what’s going to happen but we’d absolutely kill to have him back. He’d be our highest quality player by some distance. However it turns out, the fact that we genuinely seem to be in the hunt for him, and that we’ve made a few shrewd purchases aside from that, represents a corner turned after the fiasco of last summer.

And that’s basically our business. We’re also supposed to be on the verge of signing a LWB (no idea who) and maybe letting one of our centre-halves go if Whatmough comes in, but that’s all very much up in the air at the minute. Whatever happens, we’re keen to have everyone in before our opener against you, which we hope will be a tightly-contested game.

Best of luck for the season (only if you’re not jeopardising our playoff hopes)!

Both Greg Cunningham and Callum Robinson played for both sides.

Preston North End were a founder member of the Football League in 1888. In the 1888–89 season, they won both the inaugural league championship and the FA Cup, the latter without conceding a goal. They were the first team to achieve the "Double" in English football and, as they were unbeaten in all matches, are remembered as "The Invincibles.”

Head-to-head record:

Won: 29

Lost: 34

Drawn: 34

Predictions from their forum are interesting: https://www.pne-online.net/forum/index.php?threads/bristol-city-v-pne-05-08-23-championship.3438563/

Last Saturday they lost 2-0 away at Stockport, their line-up was: Woodman; Storey, Diaby (Bauer, 45), Hughes (Cunningham, 62); Potts (Ramsay, 62), McCann (Ledson, 62), Browne (Holmes, 45), Frøkjær (Mawene, 79), Best (Taylor, 79); Woodburn (Stewart, 55), Keane (Rodriguez-Gentile, 79). Subs not used: Cornell. Substitute Duane Holmes limped off in the final stages of the match for North End meaning they ended the day with ten men.

There is a possibility Kian Best will make his Championship debut against us: https://www.lancs.live/sport/football/transfer-news/preston-bristol-city-team-news-27426516

My guess at our starting line-up: O’Leary, Tanner, Vyner, Dickie, Pring, James, Scott (if fit), Knight, Bell, Conway, Sykes. Subs - Wells, Cornick, Mehmeti, Bajic, Roberts, Leeson, Weimann, Williams and King. This article looks at some of the selection dilemmas: https://www.bristolpost.co.uk/sport/football/nigel-pearson-bristol-city-preston-8649632 Clearly we now have numerous decent options so it will be really interesting to see if in particular Wells, Cornick, Weimann, Williams, Roberts or Mehmeti get the nod.

Personally feel that Tommy Conway will push on massively this season, this piece highlights his character and ambition: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/66323267

Officials

Referee: David Webb
Assistants: Rob Smith and Graham Kane

Fourth official: Carl Brook

Be interesting to see how much additional time is played in light of this new approach: https://www.efl.com/news/2023/july/match-officials-adopt-new-approach-for-202324-season/

Programmes will be sold at the four corners of Ashton Gate. The Club has decided not produce a programme, either printed or online. In these circumstances, committed fans are producing CIDEREDS Matchday Programme as they did for the lockdown season 2020/21in similar circumstances.  CIDEREDS has all the features you’d expect from a football programme.  The focus will be on City heritage and footie articles.  All the season-long contributors of City heritage articles in ROBINS are contributing to CIDEREDS:

• Club Historian David Woods continues his articles ‘City In Cartoons
• Mike Adams traces City’s quest to climb from the bottom of Division 4 in 1982 to the Premier League, we hope not far into the future in ‘The Big Climb-back’
• Steve Smith looks back at ‘What We Were Reading’ beginning with Shoot and Goal magazines
• Paul Gainey follows up his articles about players of the 50s with ‘Player Profiles of the 60s’

In addition, former Sunday Independent columnist Mark Leesdad traces the life of Chris Garland, who sadly died recently.  He is co-author of Chris’s biography ‘A Life Of Two Halves.’

CIDEREDS is of a quality equivalent to other Championship clubs and professionally designed.  It carries no adverts.  The 32 pages are all Bristol City.  The price of individual copies is £4 to collect.  But if you take out a season’s subscription the price is £3.50 to collect.  You may pay by cash or card reader.  More details are in the first issue for example you will be able to order away programmes or order mail delivery.

Working with the Former Players' Association, City are set to pay tribute to Chris Garland before and during the game, a number of ex-teammates will be present along with undoubtedly some of those who saw him grace Ashton Gate so vividly as supporters, as I had the pleasure of doing, https://www.bcfc.co.uk/city-men-news/timings-for-chris-garland-matchday-tribute/

Finally, Jack, a City fan, tragically died at the age of 28 on 6th July.  His family have asked if his life could be celebrated on the 28th minute this Saturday with a minutes applause.

 

[Unan]

The joy seeing your match day threads again, and we’re back  

[elhombrecito]

[Kid in the Riot]

[ralphindevon]

We’re back and this time we mean business!

Interesting to see their fans predictions, loads going for Mehmeti first goal scorer, I can see him getting a few this season though he may have to do it coming from the bench on Saturday.

I’m optimistic for the season but as this is Bristol City I’ve a feeling we’ll be brought down to earth a bit with a slightly disappointing 1-1 draw, Conway.

[exAtyeoMax]

[Curr Avon]

Judging by tomorrows forecast our best option would be former winger Mike Brolly! 

(Great in rainy conditions and a member of the 1975-76 promotion squad)

[Thornbury Red]

Only 10 tickets left, optimism is high, what could possibly go wrong?

[Red Army 75]

I can’t wait. Should know better at my age.  Up the city mind 

[Betty Swallocks]

3 minutes ago, Red Army 75 said:

I can’t wait. Should know better at my age.  Up the city mind 

Seems ridiculous that we don't make any provision for splitting the Atyeo Stand when teams are expected to bring less that 1500.  

[wendyredredrobin]

So we are expecting an attendance of around 25k?  Always get a good crowd for the first game and if we perform well, the crowds will stay high, so a good display will be vital to our income stream.

Not sure whether we will see any of the new boys - Roberts maybe?  Has Alex Scott really got a knock or is a transfer imminent?

Looking forward to the season despite the number of sicknotes we have already before it even kicks off.

[RoystonFoote'snephew]

4 minutes ago, Betty Swallocks said:

Seems ridiculous that we don't make any provision for splitting the Atyeo Stand when teams are expected to bring less that 1500.  

Extra cost perhaps? More stewarding for instance. 

[Betty Swallocks]

1 minute ago, wendyredredrobin said:

So we are expecting an attendance of around 25k?  Always get a good crowd for the first game and if we perform well, the crowds will stay high, so a good display will be vital to our income stream.

Not sure whether we will see any of the new boys - Roberts maybe?  Has Alex Scott really got a knock or is a transfer imminent?

Looking forward to the season despite the number of sicknotes we have already before it even kicks off.

Will be around 23.5k I'd have though. 

[Mr Popodopolous]

2 minutes ago, wendyredredrobin said:

So we are expecting an attendance of around 25k?  Always get a good crowd for the first game and if we perform well, the crowds will stay high, so a good display will be vital to our income stream.

Not sure whether we will see any of the new boys - Roberts maybe?  Has Alex Scott really got a knock or is a transfer imminent?

Looking forward to the season despite the number of sicknotes we have already before it even kicks off.

 

Just now, Betty Swallocks said:

Will be around 23.5k I'd have though. 

Yes, away end holds about 4.2k out of capacity of 27k. Maybe in the range of 23.5-24k, all depends how many Preston bring in total.

[Betty Swallocks]

2 minutes ago, RoystonFoote'snephew said:

Extra cost perhaps? More stewarding for instance. 

Yeah of course there would be extra cost but given there is still over 24 hours before the game, they would sell more than enough to cover the costs and make more money on top. 

[Bristol Rob]

6 minutes ago, RoystonFoote'snephew said:

Extra cost perhaps? More stewarding for instance. 

The cynic in me is going for 'digital ticketing is going to cause chaos for the staff they have, and they don't want to add to their burden'.

[ashton_fan]

The pre match email from the Club suggests getting there early due to the introduction of digital ticketing, just hope the anticipated problems aren't too bad and everyone gets in ok

[Homer Simpson]

19 minutes ago, Betty Swallocks said:

Seems ridiculous that we don't make any provision for splitting the Atyeo Stand when teams are expected to bring less that 1500.  

I think we would if this became a regular occurrence,  that would then justify the cost of employing extra stewards, outlet staff etc.

[wendyredredrobin]

9 minutes ago, Bristol Rob said:

The cynic in me is going for 'digital ticketing is going to cause chaos for the staff they have, and they don't want to add to their burden'.

I have the same horrible feeling.  I have the ticket in my google wallet and will turn on NFC but still crossing my fingers.

[Betty Swallocks]

Just now, Homer Simpson said:

I think we would if this became a regular occurrence,  that would then justify the cost of employing extra stewards, outlet staff etc.

We don't employ stewards though do we, thought we used an agency to bring in stewards with a different number needed from game to game.

[Homer Simpson]

Just now, Betty Swallocks said:

We don't employ stewards though do we, thought we used an agency to bring in stewards with a different number needed from game to game.

So you don't think there would be any extra cost to the cub?

[Betty Swallocks]

3 minutes ago, Homer Simpson said:

So you don't think there would be any extra cost to the cub?

I literally said there would be extra costs to the club five posts back. 

[Mr Popodopolous]

11 minutes ago, Betty Swallocks said:

We don't employ stewards though do we, thought we used an agency to bring in stewards with a different number needed from game to game.

 

9 minutes ago, Homer Simpson said:

So you don't think there would be any extra cost to the cub?

Mixture of in-house and agency. Can certainly flex the latter subject to demand, capacity requirement etc.

A while ago an article said it was 1 steward required per 250 fans. I don't know if it is years out of date and in higher risk areas or games this falls to 1 per 100. Will try to find some more up to date source.

In effect it would mean you would need to pay if we stuck 1,00 fans in thete.. anywhere between 4-10 extra stewards plus any additional costs of segregation or amenities.

[ChippenhamRed]

Great effort selling out. £15 tickets clearly help. Makes me wonder again whether our ordinary ticket prices are really the most lucrative price point for the club. Particularly if you also consider the indirect benefit of having a bumper crowd behind the team.

[bcfc01]

Few tickets just came up in upper Lansdown..

I suspect this will go on throughout the day.

Edited August 4, 2023 by bcfc01

[Jerseybean]

NP note to fans: https://www.bcfc.co.uk/city-men-news/welcome-back-niges-notes/

 

[Jerseybean]

Gate guide for tomorrow: https://www.bcfc.co.uk/city-men-news/gate-guide-preston-north-end/

[JackofromSanJavier]

1 hour ago, wendyredredrobin said:

I have the same horrible feeling.  I have the ticket in my google wallet and will turn on NFC but still crossing my fingers.

I'm really not technical at all, but I'm assuming that when you mention NFC, the N is for "No" and the C is for "Chance".  I'm stumped on the middle letter though.

[RoystonFoote'snephew]

3 wishes for tomorrow. 

1) the ST downloaded to my Wallet actually works and I get in the ground

2) Antoni doesn't spoil the day and the weather behaves

3) we win

[bcfc01]

Hopefully 1 and 3 materialise.

Don't be sad, cause two outa three aint bad.