[themaclad]

FORM GUIDE

BARNSLEY 2 PNE 7

LAST TIME OUT



BARNSLEY FAMOUS FAN

Harold Dennis "Dickie" Bird, OBE (born 19 April 1933),[1] is an English retired international cricket umpire. During his long umpiring career, he became a much-loved figure among players and viewing public, due to his excellence as an umpire, but also his many eccentricities.

Bird played first-class cricket for Yorkshire and Leicestershire as a right-handed batsman, but only scored two centuries in 93 appearances. His career was blighted by a knee injury, which eventually caused him to retire aged 31. He umpired in 66 Test matches (at the time a world record) and 69 One Day Internationals including 3 World Cup Finals.

In February 2014, Yorkshire announced that Bird was to be voted in as the club's president at their Annual General Meeting on 29 March.[2] His autobiography sold more than a million copies.




GENTRY DAY

What is Gentry Day?
North End Gentry day is a fan organised event and is in memory of any Preston North End follower or player who may have passed away in the last 12 months.

The Gentry term was first used by third division championship winning manager Alan Ball Snr in the early 1970s stating to the Press after a game that

"Preston fans are the best, they're the gentry".

This inspired a number of PNE fans to don bowler hats and even pin stripe suits at Deepdale and especially amongst a loyal band of away supporters.

In 2005 supporters organisation The Preston Supporters Group (PSG) arranged the "Return of the Gentry" in memory of John Tracey, a member of the original PNE Gentry who sadly passed away. This was a massive success and even saw North End's players wearing the famed bowler hats on the pitch.

In 2008 with the support of PNE-Online and other supporters groups, PSG decided to make it an annual event for all North End fans and the people of Preston to remember anyone they may have lost during that season/year.




The Last Gentry day that fans could attend was in 2019 when a sell out away end celebrated the day at West Bromwich Albion.

Although PSG are now disbanded a wide range of North End Supporters have come together with the club to keep the Gentry Tradition going.

The club held discussions with new supporters group Preston Supporters Collective and a vote then put to the supporters to decide the final venue.

Gentry Day has now become a proud tradition for the folk of Preston and it's football club and has been well received by supporters of all the clubs chosen as hosts over the years.

We are sure all supporters will once again will be pulling out all the stops to make this seasons Gentry Day a great day in the PNE fans' calendar



This Gentry Day is for Ilene RIP