[themaclad]

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Venue


Last Season
Preston North End 4 Wigan Athletic 0


Last time out
Millwall 1 Preston North End 0


Wigan Athletic 3 Cardiff City 2



A warm welcome to the Pies as they make the short trip to Deepdale for an early bit of local rivalry, thye arrive at the home of quality having gained a decent victory over Colin's Cardiff last week. They have signed a shed load of players paying over £2 million for Lowe and Moore and just under that amount for Robinson from Everton they have also brought in Williams from Everton who when he last played at Deepdale for Bolton accidently tried to bite Pearson's eyebrows off.
Whisper it quietly they may be play off contenders this season.
As with last week there are still possibities both clubs may have further newbies to bolster their squads.
Expect both Bayliss and Green to play given they have had a full week training with us, could be a close game.44

The main attraction though could be this person/pie


This weekend’s opening home game will be officiated by Jeremy Simpson, taking charge of his seventh game at Deepdale.
The referee actually took charge of our last competitive home game, against Sheffield Wednesday, back in April, one of three games where he officiated the Lilywhites in 2018/19.

The Carnforth referee also took charge of our 1-1 draw with Bristol City at Deepdale at the beginning of March and the October clash at home to Rotherham United.

Prior to that he had not refereed the Lilywhites since January 2018, when he was the match official for the draw at Millwall, his second North End game of 2017/18; the first being 1-0 home win over Queens Park Rangers in December 2017.
In 2016/17, the select group two match official took the game for our Boxing Day clash with Leeds United and the Lilywhites’ Roses victory over Huddersfield Town in October, as well as acting as fourth official at two home games.

He also was in charge when North End took on Stoke City at PR1 in pre-season that year, and is an experienced official, with plenty of Championship action under his belt.

His first game of the season is Jeremy’s tenth game refereeing the Latics, the first being a 1-1 draw with Birmingham back in 2016. Last season he oversaw their first away game of the season as well, a 3-2 defeat at Villa, as well as a 1-0 home win over West Brom.

This weekend he will be assisted by Nick Greenhalgh and Nik Barnard, whilst Martin Woods will be the fourth official.