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Preston North End v Ipswich Town


Saturday 22nd August 2015 – 15:00

Deepdale






Opening Thought – Jamma

After three home wins in a week, our opening day capitulation now seems a distant memory. I said in the preview for that Brentford game that we wouldn’t know if we would be affected by a so-called play-off ‘hangover’ until around ten games into the season. But the early signs are promising that we have got over our excesses of 2014/15! Continuing with the hangover theme, the fiasco at Griffin Park was the immediate aftermath, when we were too quick to get to our feet before falling flat on our face. If the League Cup victory against Stevenage was akin to making the first tentative steps out of bed, the subsequent two wins at Portman Road have seen us make a full recovery, ready to go again! It has been particularly pleasing to see the Blues secure the result in two contrasting ways in these latter two league encounters. While the success against Sheffield Wednesday came on the back of some free-flowing attacking football against an equally adventurous side, the 3 points against Burnley were our reward for a more resilient display, calling upon many of the defensive qualities that got us so far last season. Any team which achieves its ambitions has to be able to vary their approach according to the situation, and this is something that seems to have been gradually added during Mick McCarthy’s reign.

Our 2-0 win over Burnley on Tuesday night – coupled with Derby’s late equaliser against Middlesbrough – sent us to the top of the league at this very early stage of the season. Although Mick, rather predictably, said post-match ‘Just 43 games to go’, he will no doubt also use this as motivation for the team to continue their strong start to the campaign. In much the same way as he has set the players the challenge of going the entire season unbeaten at home, he will now be able to challenge them to remain at the top of the pile. This will come with its own pressures, as was hinted at by the coverage on Sky Sports News, who were quick to highlight the fact that Ipswich had gone top of the table last night. We saw last season how the leadership changed so many times, with teams inevitably raising their games when coming up against the top side in a league as competitive as the Championship. Although an unfamiliar situation for a club that stayed under the radar for large parts of 2014/15, it is one which we should relish. Such is the spirit and confidence within the squad that they will be thinking ‘Why can’t we stay up there until May?’. There are many tests to come between now and then, of course, starting with a trip to a ground where we have not tasted much success in recent times. Let’s just hope the players stay off the alcohol on Friday night…!


The Opposition – Preston North End





Preston North End was originally founded as a cricket club in 1863, by Mr Walter Pomfret of Deepdale Road, who was the first person to rent the field on which North End have always played. The original rent was £8 per year. As Preston already had a strong town's club, they adopted the "North End" suffix because they moved to the North End of the town when Moor Park opened, playing their matches there. Prior to that, they played at Bow Lane. The club adopted rugby union code in 1877, but one year later they played their first game under the rules of association football, and in May 1880 unanimously passed a resolution to adopt the association code.

Preston North End were famously successful during the early years of professional football in England. In 1887, Preston beat Hyde 26–0 in the First Round of the FA Cup, still a record winning margin in English first-class football. Preston forward Jimmy Ross scored eight goals in the match, going on to score 19 goals in the competition that season, also still a record.

In 1888–89, they became the first league champions and the first winners of "The Double", becoming the only team to date to go through an entire season unbeaten in both the league and FA Cup – winning the FA Cup without conceding a goal.

Preston were league champions again the following season, but have not won the title since. The club's last major trophy was an FA Cup triumph in 1938.

Preston were relegated to the Second Division in 1961 and have not played in the top division since. The club did reach the FA Cup final in 1964, but lost to West Ham United. Preston were relegated to the Third Division in the 1969–70 season. The club won the Third Division title at the first attempt and so returned to the Second Division.

Bobby Charlton, an England World Cup winner from 1966, was appointed Preston manager in 1973, but was unable to prevent the club from sliding into the Third Division in his first season and left after two years in charge. A brief respite in 1978 saw Preston win promotion back to the Second Division, but go down after three seasons. In 1985, the club fell into the Fourth Division for the first time in its history.

In 1986, Preston finished second from bottom in the Fourth Division and only avoided dropping into the Football Conference because the other Football League members voted in favour of the division's bottom four teams retaining their senior status.
A year later, Preston won promotion to the Third Division and they were still at this level until 1990, when they were relegated in the first season of the new Division Two.

Preston won the Division Three title in 1997, and in February 1998 34-year-old defender David Moyes took over management of the club. Preston quickly developed into Division Two promotion contenders under Moyes, reaching the 1998–99 play-offs but losing out to Gillingham in the semi-finals, before finally being promoted as champions a year later.

Preston began the new millennium by winning promotion from Division 2 in the 1999–2000 season as champions. The club almost made it two promotions in a row in 2001 but lost 3–0 to Bolton Wanderers in the Division One play-off final. Moyes left for Everton in March 2002.

Preston were little more than a mid-table side until the 2004/05 season, when Billy Davies took over and guided Preston to the Championship play-off final in his first season as manager, but they lost to West Ham United. The club reached the play-offs again the following year, this time losing out at the semi-final stage.

Preston spent much of the 2006–07 season in the automatic promotion or play-off places. However, from March 2007 the club slid rapidly down the league. On 11 July 2007, David Nugent, the first Preston player to win an England cap for 50 years, left the club to join Portsmouth for a reported transfer fee of £6,000,000 and they did not recover from their poor run of form.

After a bad start to the 2007–08 season, which saw the club pick up just three wins, Paul Simpson was sacked as manager on 13 November 2007 and Alan Irvine was appointed as Preston's new manager on a three-and-a-half year deal. He achieved his first objective as manager by finishing in 15th place, thus securing Preston's survival in the Championship.

The following season, he led Preston to 6th place in the Championship after a good run of form towards the end of the season, qualifying for the play-offs.

On 29 December 2009, Irvine was sacked after a poor run of results, with the club appointing Darren Ferguson as his successor and he narrowly secured their survival in the Championship.
In the 2009–10 season, Preston finished in 17th place and in the following season they were bottom of the Championship when Ferguson was sacked at Christmas.

Former Hull City manager Phil Brown was appointed as Ferguson's replacement, but could only achieve his first win in his 13th game in charge. This sparked an improved run of form, but could not prevent relegation to League One.

Brown was sacked on 14 December 2011 after less than a year in charge. After four weeks of interviews, Preston approached Stevenage manager Graham Westley and he was appointed manager on Friday 13 January 2012. Following a poor string of results, including a club record run of 12 home games without a win, Westley was sacked as Preston manager on 13 February 2013.

On 18 February 2013, it was confirmed that Simon Grayson had taken charge of Preston and by the end of the 2012–13 season Preston were safe in 14th place, 11 points clear of relegation.

Preston won promotion to the Championship after beating Swindon Town 4–0 in the League One play-off final on 24 May 2015, having failed in their previous nine appearances in the play-offs.


One To Watch – Joe Garner



Having picked a goalkeeper and two defenders for my ‘Ones To Watch’ so far in 2015/16, there was no danger of me continuing the trend for Saturday’s game, with Preston rivalling ourselves for the title of the Championship’s most impressive strikeforce (although coming up short, of course! ) Alongside Jermaine Beckford, Joe Garner is a player with the ability to play at a higher level, and a penchant for scoring spectacular goals.



Although a boyhood Preston fan, Garner started out in the professional game at Blackburn, coming through the ranks but not making an appearance for the First Team. After a fruitful loan spell, he joined Carlisle permanently in the summer of 2007, becoming their record signing. However, he was soon on the move again, this time to Championship side Nottingham Forest. Although he showed glimpses of his undoubted quality at the City Ground, he found chances hard to come by and took in further loans with Huddersfield and Scunthorpe before signing for Watford ahead of the 2011/12 season. After again struggling to make an impact, and having scored against the Lilywhites during another spell with Carlisle, Garner arrived at Deepdale in January 2013. This time, the striker was to settle in straightaway, scoring 24 goals in all competitions in his first full campaign. He capped a fine individual season with a sensational strike in the first leg of the play-off semi-final against Rotherham, also claiming both the Supporters’ and Players’ Player of the Year awards. For most players, it would have been a big ask to follow up such an impressive season, but Garner went on to enjoy an even better one in 2014/15, bagging 27 goals as Preston secured promotion at Wembley. He also ended the campaign as League 1’s top scorer and Player of the Season, as well as being named in the division’s PFA Team of the Year.


The Manager – Simon Grayson





Simon Grayson began his career at Leeds United in June 1988 as both a defender and a midfielder. However, he did not manage to make the big breakthrough at Leeds, playing just twice in four years. He signed for Leicester City in March 1992 and went on to make 229 appearances in five years.

Grayson moved to Aston Villa in 1997 and made another 49 Premier League appearances at Villa Park. He then signed for Blackburn Rovers in July 1999, making 34 appearances in his first season. He lost his place in the team the following season and spent most of the next two years on loan, with spells at Sheffield Wednesday, Stockport County, Notts County and Bradford City.

Grayson signed for Blackpool on a free transfer on 19 July 2002. He made more than 100 appearances for the Seasiders and captained the side.


Grayson moved into coaching in the 2004–05 season, managing the reserve squad at Bloomfield Road with some success before he was named caretaker manager of the first team in November 2005. After guiding Blackpool away from relegation that season, he was given the job on a permanent basis for the start of the 2006–07 season. Grayson retired from playing at the end of the 2005–06 season to focus purely on the managerial side of the game.

In late 2006, he led Blackpool to only one defeat in fourteen league games, a sequence that included five wins out of six, resulting in their appearance in the four play-off positions. The run also brought attendances of more than 7,000 to Bloomfield Road. This led to Grayson being awarded the Manager of the Month award for December.

Grayson received his second League One Manager of the Month award of the 2006–07 season in May 2007. Two days later, Grayson guided Blackpool to a final placing of third, and thus a place in the play-offs, where they met Yeovil Town in the final at the newly renovated Wembley Stadium on 27 May and won 2–0, securing promotion to the Championship. It was their tenth consecutive victory, a new club record.

In October 2007, Grayson guided Blackpool to the fourth round of the League Cup for the club's first time in 35 years. In December 2007, Grayson signed a two-and-a-half-year contract, following two years working without a formal contract. In May 2008, Blackpool finished nineteenth in the Championship, their highest finish in the Football League since 1977–78.

Grayson was heavily linked with the vacant managerial post at Leeds United, with whom he had started his playing career, following the sacking of Gary McAllister in December 2008, but Blackpool refused permission for Leeds to speak to Grayson. Despite this, Grayson tendered his resignation, which the Blackpool board did not accept, and he was announced as Leeds United's new manager. The two clubs ultimately settled the dispute for an undisclosed fee.
In his first season at Leeds, they won their final eleven home games, matching a forty-year-old record, and Grayson guided the club to a fourth-place finish, but they failed to make it past the play-off semi-finals.

Grayson and Leeds started the 2009–10 season with an unbeaten run in all competitions, which ultimately saw Leeds finish the season in second place, and earn automatic promotion to The Championship.

Leeds’ first season in the Championship started off well, but a late dip in form saw them finish in 7th place in the table. The following season saw Grayson sacked in February 2012 due to the lack of progress the club was making.

On 20 February 2012, just 5 days after Lee Clark was sacked as manager, Grayson became the new manager of Football League One side Huddersfield Town on a 3 ½-year deal. On 26 May 2012, Grayson led Huddersfield to play-off victory over Sheffield United, gaining promotion to the Championship.

He was sacked from Huddersfield on 24 January 2013, following a run of 12 consecutive league games without victory stretching back to 17 November 2012.

Simon Grayson was appointed manager of Preston North End on 18 February 2013 and kept the club clear of relegation.

A better season followed and in n May 2014 Grayson led Preston North End into the League One play off semi-final against Rotherham United, which was lost 4-2 on aggregate.

Twelve months later, Grayson guided Preston back to the second tier of English football after an absence of 4 years with a victory over Swindon Town in the League One play-off final. It was their first success in the play-offs in ten attempts.




Past Match Video Highlights - Trev





Trev’s Trivia

Player to play for both teams

Nathan Ellington ITFC 2011-2013 PNE 2011 loan

K L Blue - Media Watch


A great wee piece on Ashley Maitland-Niles

Enjoy him while you can because Ainsley Maitland-Niles is heading for the very top.


That’s the message from Ipswich Town boss Mick McCarthy to Blues fans after the 17-year-old Arsenal loanee’s exciting start to life at Portman Road.

The teenage winger – who’s in Suffolk for the season and can’t be recalled – produced a man-of-the-match performance in Tuesday night’s 2-0 home win over newly-relegated Burnley.

Quick, tricky and classy on the ball, Maitland-Niles has also worked his socks off and been both unselfish and brave out of possession.

“He’s an outstanding player,” enthused McCarthy. “If he doesn’t end up being outstanding for Arsenal I’ll be very surprised. Thanks to Arsene (Wenger) for lending him to us because he’s done us a right turn.”

Asked if he felt Maitland-Niles – who just has ‘Niles’ on the back of his No.7 shirt – was heading for the very top, McCarthy replied: “Absolutely. He looks like a slight lad, but he gets about and does all the jobs that wingers don’t traditionally do; tracking back with the full-back and getting his foot in.

“He’s got real quality and he’s a lovely kid too, he really is smashing. We’re blessed that we’ve got him actually.”

Meanwhile, McCarthy says it was owner Marcus Evans’ decision to hand striker Freddie Sears a new four-year contract this week.

Sears has scored 11 goals in just 19 starts and seven substitute appearances for the Blues, following his switch from League One neighbours Colchester United back in January.

“Fair play to Marcus. Freddie was already on a long deal, but he did the business for us last year and Marcus has rewarded him with a contract that he thoroughly deserves and reflects his status in the club now,” said McCarthy.

“He’s somebody who has come in and stepped up a gear. He’s top class.”

Sears’ £100k price tag is increasingly looking like the Football League’s best bargain buy of 2015, especially when you consider that Bristol City are ready to splash out £9m on Brentford’s Andre Gray.

“That doesn’t really faze me that, what other people are doing, good luck to them,” said McCarthy.

“It’s funny, it’s always the same when a player is successful – everyone says ‘how did you get him?’

“Well we knew about Freddie because he was down the road at Colchester, we offered him another step up the ladder and it suited him geographically.

“Now you hear other clubs saying ‘we were looking at him too’, well ‘unlucky’ – we got him!”

Stat Time


Head to Head

Preston Wins.......................11 (40.74%)
Ipswich Wins........................8 (29.63%)
Draws................................8 (29.63%)

Preston Goals......................39 (ave. 1.44 per match)
Ipswich Goals......................33 (ave. 1.22 per match)


Head To Head At Preston


Preston Wins........................7 (53.85%)
Ipswich Wins........................1 (7.69%)
Draws................................5 (38.46%)


Preston Goals.......................21 (ave. 1.62 per match)
Ipswich Goals.......................10 (ave. 0.77 per match)





Marko's Caption Contest


What an excellent week of caption entries. Floors won the 5 points with Di Canio being as stuffed as his pizza!

LEAGUE TABLE:

Quasar 8
Floors 7
Foxy lady 6
Charnwood 6
Herforder 6
Derick 5
Blueblood 5
James Scharmann 3
Barmy Billy 3
Ohiotractorboy 3
IpswichtownNO1 3
Nicsreamer 2
Number 9. 2
Bluemike 1
Frosty 1

Have a stab at this:





The Predicted Teams


Preston

After I bigged up Preston’s attack further up, it is their defence that has excelled so far in 2015/16, as they have kept clean sheets in each of their first three league games. Don’t expect to see too many changes to the side that came away from Rotherham with a point.

1 Jordan Pickford
5 Tom Clarke
6 Bailey Wright
23 Paul Huntingdon
3 Greg Cunningham
11 Daniel Johnson
8 Neil Kilkenny
19 John Welsh
12 Paul Gallagher
14 Joe Garner
9 Will Keane

Ipswich Town

The games are coming thick and fast now, and McCarthy will be sweating on the fitness of Ryan Fraser and Daryl Murphy, after both picked up knocks in midweek.

33 Bartosz Bialkowski
4 Luke Chambers
5 Tommy Smith
6 Christophe Berra
3 Jonas Knudsen
7 Ainsley Maitland-Niles
8 Cole Skuse
22 Jonathan Douglas
18 Jay Tabb
10 David McGoldrick
20 Freddie Sears


Match Referee – Mark Brown






Final Thought - Frosty


Carrying on from what I said in the Burnley preview, I am really quite excited by the season ahead, I know the Championship is a marathon not a sprint but to take 3 points from one of the relegated Premiership sides has to be as good sign.

Where perhaps, and I am thinking back to the dip in form we had post Christmas from last season is the need to try and pick up maximum points from less fancied sides this season. To me Preston is a case in point, although they have looked competitive to date, this is really one of those fixtures where we have to be targeting maximum points. I know recently promoted sides can surprise and MK Dons are also off to a good start in the Championship as well, however I don’t believe they are as strong as a Bournemouth was from last season or Leicester and Norwich in seasons past. The latter two probably should never had let themselves drop to League 1 in the first place.

A trip to Deepdale doesn’t scream out as a goal fest fixture, Preston have managed only one goal this season but to their credit haven’t conceded one either from their first 3 matches. A creditable 0-0 draw against Boro started off the season, a 1-0 win away at MK Dons followed, and finally a scoreless draw against Rotherham in the most recent fixture.

Hopefully our four useful strikers can make the difference between the two sides come Saturday.

In other fixtures of note, Birmingham and Charlton are at home to Derby and Hull respectively, Burnley host Brentford and sticking with sides beginning with ‘B’, Brighton receive a visit from Blackburn. Middlesbrough must fancy their chance against Bristol City to be played at the Riverside.

For those of you travelling up North this weekend, have a safe trip and a great day at the football.


PRESTON NORTH END 0 IPSWICH TOWN 1

Caption : Take That ! My shirt should have said PAXO

Surely its a win for Town ?? 3-1 to the Blues for me.

Caption - Preston's Spot the ball competition becomes a little bit too literal!

Or ...

Deepdale Duck says " Hold on, shouldn't I be trying to lay an egg? "

2-1 Town win for me.

Caption


"This tragic picture graphically shows what can happen when your partner finds out you were using the 'Ashley Maddison' website"

1-1 Draw for me Murphy and Parr are both doubts but it looks like Fraser is going to be fit

Great news about Frazer being fit because we need his pace/attacking abilities.

Not one of our favourite grounds to say the least, but this is a different Town I feel and I am quietly confident that we will be the first team to put one in the Preston net, while Garner is a bit of a threat up front I think Town could have the measure of what they have to offer going forward. Clearly games involving Preston are not likely to produce loads of goals and I expect this to be the same. With confidence in the Town ranks high and pl;ayers settled with new contracts being signed all over the place I feel Town may well keep the good start to the season going in what will probably be a very tight match.

I don't see too many changes to the starting line up although should Murphy not make it then either Didsy or Pitman will step in which doesnt weaken us as such but may enforce the need for a slightly different style of play. I am going for a narrow 0-1 Town win with Jonathon Douglas ramming home the crucial winner.

Preston 0-1 Town

I think we are going to march on this saturday with a 3-1 win, going behind early and finishing strong
Caption Comp :

Paxo rebranding to Baxi advert " feel like a winner when you stuff an old bird"

Tricky fixture for Town i think.... and we dont have a particularly good record against them. Ill go 2-2 draw.

Caption: BAXI? This bird is an old Boiler!!!

2-0 to Town I hope

CAPTION COMPETITION

The crowd are about to witness the biggest gangbang in history!!!

Nice preview. I done a Blackpoo once......, too much guinness.

The stats are a bit grim reading. But I reckon an away win could be accomplished here. 1-2 or 2-3 ITFC.

Ref caption:

Linesman: Hey ref, just been asked by the fourth official. What do the wheels on the bus do?

As much as I'd like to see our first league win at Preston since Jan '66, I think we'll be happy to come aware with a 1-1 draw.

Caption where Mascot is looking up players shorts.

" I feel sorry for your missus mate, it looks like a c*ck up there, but a little smaller!"

We finished August last season with 5 points so already we are 2 better off. I'd happily settle for a point so will go 1-1.

1-2 Ipswich.
Caption: "Aaaah Macarena!", the bird song is officially dead!

Town to win 3-0.

Caption: Large 'c*ck' too much for duck to handle.

Caption Comp :
Even ugly bloke scores with Baxi and leaves Bird legless on her back. ( Baxi over 18s Only )

Nice preview Frosty.

Deepdale isn't a happy hunting ground for us but suffice to say I'm feeling very optimistic after Tuesdays match. Think we will win this one 2-1 with Sears and Didzy scoring for us.

Caption Comp.....

Bird......Is that a worm up there, I couldn't do with a small snack right now!

1-1 for me in a tough game,

Caption..." I said duck you pratt.......Not fcuk!!"

CAPTION...."Watch this, this is how you stuff a Duck"

Caption.

Mascot: "Nope! I can see a ball, but i dont think its the match ball, its too small"

Read this jus a bit ago on the Sky sports site , as per normal a "love in" with the so called bigger clubs in the championship and the normal round up for us , but more about Preston NE to be honest.

"Sky Bet Championship leaders Ipswich (2/1) are underdogs ahead of their visit to Preston on Saturday."... - The more we are underrated by the press and other teams the more it benefits us to be honest..but it does grate slightly

Suits me just fine, no-one fancied us last season and yet we were one handball away from a potential play off final at wembley.

As a further away ITFC fan, Larry, I've noticed it for years. I thought it would've changed when Mick McCarthy took over, but sadly no. Sky seem disinterested in ITFC. Even the reporters look thoroughly pissed off being there.

Nice preview, 1-1 I think.
Tommy miller Alex mathie and chaplow played for both clubs.

Bloody hell, Tom...... Where have you been? And where is that fat transvestite avatar that used to turn me on so much?!

marko69 wrote:As a further away ITFC fan, Larry, I've noticed it for years. I thought it would've changed when Mick McCarthy took over, but sadly no. Sky seem disinterested in ITFC. Even the reporters look thoroughly pissed off being there.

I,m the same most of the time Marko , miles away from home so rely on the press / tv for info , the only time any recent intrest in Town was when we had that bell end Keane here , then it was all about him.

Interesting line-up. Bart out for personal reasons. Gerken, Chambers, Smith, Berra, Knudsen, Skuse, Douglas, Fraser, Sears, McGoldrick, Pitman

AMN on the bench.

Looks like all out attack. Could be some goals in this one