Thanks, Clive. Knowing a little about your own distinguished background as a former headteacher, modern language specialist and school inspector it means a great deal.
And thanks to you, too, Len. Iām not sure how you know those things about me, except that you and I both had obvious Acklam Hall connections. Perhaps we have mutual acquaintances?Ā However, I wouldnāt describe my background as distinguished Ā - I think extinguished is more appropriate!Ā
Rousing words, Clive. Iāll be away at the van although my step son is going to the game. Itās going to be tense.Ā
Whilst Iām here, Iād like to echo the words of many people above, about the quality of the writing on this Forum. Iād be interested to know how many regular posters weāve got at the moment and whether we should be trying to boost those numbers. Iām quite happy with the current membership, but new, respectful, opinions are always welcome.Ā
Great sense of humour has Clive. Iāve never met him, but he phones me every 3 or 4 weeks and we not only discuss the Boro, but also our mutual love of cricket. I always look forward to his phone calls; they brighten up my day. So many thanks, Clive, youāre a star.
Clive,
That little motivational speech should have been delivered on horseback, armour gleaming and the Riverside flags and banners snapping in the wind.
I'm going behind the couch with a duvet over my head.
The whole situation is typical Boro, it could have been avoided but let's make difficult, much more fun, and we can really wind DiasBoro up too.
UTB,
John
Preston North End next up, and although the history of football has always had me riveted especially about all things Boro, this time I thought that some of you might be interested about the history of this Saturdayās opponents. Like many clubs Preston started about a team of cricketers wanting to keep fit during the winter months, although they turned to rugby at first. However this appeared to be disastrous, so soon decided to form a football team at Deepdale in Moor Park being the northern part of the town, although the didnāt change their name to Preston North End until several years later.
They entered the FA Cup and actually hold the record of the highest ever score in the competition by beating Hyde FC 26-0 in a First Round tie in 1887 although they didnāt reach the Cup Final until the following season when a record crowd of 19,000 watched them lose to West Bromwich Albion 1-2 at Kennington Oval.Ā
When Scotsman William McGregor a Scottish draper from Perthshire and football administrator with Aston Villa decided to form a regular system of Saturday matches where each team would play each other twice a season. He invited 6 clubs from the West Midlands and 6 from Lancashire including Preston to form an organised āLeagueā and thatās when League football was introduced on the 9th of September 1888. Preston continued playing at Deepdale which is now footballās oldest ground in terms of continuous use by any league club, but what an amazing season that was for Preston. With a team made up of mainly Scots they not only were undefeated in that inaugural season winning 18 of their 22 matches as the won the League by 11 points over Aston Villa, but also won the FA Challenge Cup without conceding a goal culminating in beating Wolves 3-0 in the Final. No wonder that they were named Proud Preston, the Invincibles.
That though wasnāt the end of Prestonās dominance as they won the League again in the following season and were runners-up in each of the following 3 seasons. However the Lilywhites have never reached their former glories with only one more FA Cup Final win in 1938 beating Huddersfield 1-0 with a penalty from George Mutch. Mind they did almost win the Cup and League double that season when they finished third to Arsenal but Deepdaleās biggest ever crowd of 42,684 were in attendance in that late April league decider hoping for a win to clinch the title. However Preston lost 1-3 and finished third. The Lilywhites were runners-up in the First Division to Wolves in 1958, but since then they have spent much of the time in the second tier of English football.
Of course their most famous players were Bill Shankly who made 297 appearances between 1933 and 1949 who became a colossus as manager of Liverpool, and Tom Finney who was a plumber by trade whilst save from one appearance late in his career for the Northern Irish club Distillery, played for Preston North End as a winger and later centre forward in his Ā whole career 473 times and scoring 210 goals. Ā
I have only ever visited Preston once, though not to see a match but to visit the National History Museum near Deepdale, which has since been relocated to Manchester in 2012. Today the capacityof Deepdale is only 23,404 so with some 6,000 Boro fans there on Saturday they may well outshout the home side. Generally speaking Boroās record at Deepdale isnāt too bad with 15 wins and 12 draws in 47 meetings, but of course anything less than 3 points will be no good for their quest for a playoff place. I remember well Boro losing there 1-6 in 1948, but recently Boro have won there on 7 occasions. I expect, no DEMAND that Boro win this time but can they outscore the Blades as if I suspect Sheffield United will be very nervous facing Fulham after the Cottagerās demolition of Luton who themselves must be shellsocked after that annihilation against Fulham?
So this is it, with Boro now back in winning mode. Who blinks first; come on Boro!
Iām sure you know already, Ken, but Preston has a long history of womenās football too.
Hereās a link to an article about Dick, Kerr Ladies: https://amp.theguardian.com/football/blog/2009/sep/09/england-women-football
There's more here: https://www.dickkerrladies.com