RTG’s totally and utterly (we hope) indispensable guide to this season’s away grounds.
THE OPPO – Preston North End, aka “The Lillywhites”
DATE – Saturday 1st January – New Year’s Day!
KO TIME – 3pm
TICKETS This is an all-ticket fixture; tickets will not be available from PNE on the day, and supporters should not travel to the game unless they have a ticket.
THE GROUND – Deepdale, Sir Tom Finney Way, Preston, click here for a map, the red circle in the middle highlights where the ground is, zoom in and out using the controls on the left of the screen.
Deepdale is just to the north of Preston town centre, in the Moor Park area of town and just off the A6063. And it’s not all that far away from HMP Preston if you misbehave.
GOING BY CAR?
Unless you live in north-west England anyway it’s a bit of a pain – travelling from the north-east, you’ve got a choice of routes but you’ve got to cross them thar hills at some point. The A1 down to Pontefract then onto the M62, M61 then M6, OR the A66 and A685 to Tebay then down the M6 to Preston are the most obvious routes unless you fancy a country ramble – unlikely for a midweek evening game though…. Approaching from the south it’s more straightforward but a long hike nonetheless.
Once you’re on the M6, leave at jcn 31 and follow signs for Preston and proceed on up the hill – be warned though, one of the Preston fan-sites highlights this as a stretch favoured by the long arm of the law holding a speed camera, so go easy unless you want a souvenir speed ticket. When you get to the roundabout overlooked by the Hesketh Arms, turn right onto Blackpool Road – before long you’ll see the floodlights for Deepdale on the left. You’ll arrive at a major road juntion where you should turn left at the traffic lights, onto Sir Tom Finney Way.
You can park at Moor Park (facing the ground on your right) or there’s limited on-street parking, and some local schools offer secure parking for a couple of quid. If you can’t find a space, head back out of town and use the ‘Soccerbus’ park and ride scheme.
GOING BY TRAIN?
Being New Year’s Day, public transport will be less than usual. The 9.05am Transpennine Express from Newcastle will get you to Manchester Piccadilly at 11.50am. From there, change for the 12.12pm First North Western service which gets you into Preston just after 1pm – ample time to find somewhere for a pint and some scran before kick off. Or if you want to set off later it’s the 10.08am Transpennine Express from Newcastle which gets to Manchester Piccadilly at 12.50pm. Then change for the 1.12pm First North Western service which gets you into Preston just after 2pm.
Coming home, the 6.07pm First North Western service gets you into Manchester at 7pm; change to the 7.12pm Transpennine Express to York, then at York change for the 8.46pm Virgin Trains service which will get you to Newcastle at 9.56pm.
Go to the National Rail website to see what trains are available for that day.
If you do decide to let the train take the strain, you leave Preston station by the large glass doors by the ticket office. Walk up the hill and turn right at the main road, cross the station approach road and you’re onto a road called Fishergate. Walk along Fishergate then downhill along Church Street until you reach the junction with the ring road. Cross the ring road and turn left onto Deepdale Road; after 5-10 mins walk it becomes Sir Tom Finney Way, and the ground’s on your right.
If you can’t be arsed to walk, you can get a taxi outside the station and the journey to the ground will set you back about a fiver.
SCRAN AND BOOZE
The Sumners welcomes both sets of supporters – you’ll find it by walking past the stadium up Sir Tom Finney Way, straight on at the lights and you’ll see a Sainsburys on the right; carry on up that hill, pass the garage and The Sumners pub is on the right, or The Garrison, opposite.
A lot of away fans also use the “Toy Soldier” pub/restaurant which you’ll find at Deepdale Retail Park.
Preston North End run their own catering services inside the ground, with the usual array of pies, burgers, drinks etc on offer. Note, though that there is no alcohol on sale inside the ground at any time.
LEND US A FIVER…
The Halifax have a cash machine at the ground itself or there’s a Co-Op Bank machine within the Co-Op store on Harewood Road, not far from the ground. At the Sainsburys we mentioned earlier, there are Abbey National, Royal Bank of Scotland and Sainsburys Bank cash machines, so no shortage of places to get at your dosh.
LAST SEASON
Final league position – 15th of 24
THIS SEASON
Currently 14th of 24
P24 W9 D5 L10 F30 A36 Pts 32 GD-6
HOME FORM
P12 W8 D2 L2 F22 A12 Pts 26 GD 10
HEAD TO HEAD
Preston and Sunderland have met 103 times in league matches and we’ve won 45 of those; Preston have won 28, with 30 draws.
LAST EIGHT MEETINGS
18/09/04 Lads 3, Preston 1 (Elliott 27, 25; Carter 45)
10/03/04 Lads 3, Preston 3 (Mears og, Thornton 70, Stewart 84(p))
23/08/03 Preston 0, Lads 2 (Thornton 4, Stewart 41)
23/08/95 Lads 3, Preston 2 (Howey (2), Kidd) – league cup
15/08/95 Preston 1, Lads 1 (Angell) – league cup
13/02/88 Preston 2, Lads 2 – old Div III
28/12/87 Lads 1, Preston 1 – old Div III
16/02/80 Preston 2, Lads 1 – old Div II
TRIVIA
Deepdale is also home to the National Football Museum, which is always worth a visit if you arrive with time to spare before kickoff.
On matchday (New Year’s Day) the FA Cup will be on display in the museum and entrance to the museum is free of charge. Supporters can have their photograph taken with the Cup for £3 (or £10 if museum staff take the picture; that sum includes p+p for the photograph to be sent on to you). The museum is open on Saturday from 10am to 5pm, but the Cup is only on show from 12.30pm to 2.30pm.
Credits: PNE official website, ‘WTJOTP’ (PNE fansite), Rough Guide to English Football, Soccerbase, www.multimap.co.uk, National Rail, Virgin Trains.
