Tranmere have announced the return of Friday Night Football to Prenton Park with local games against both Macclesfield Town and Crewe Alexandra to be played under the floodlights.
If you were a Tranmere fan during the 1970s, 80s or 90s, Friday Night Football was a staple part of your routine. As an established and competitive Football League club, Rovers built a solid fan base and ultimately embarked on Johnny King’s trip to the moon, predominantly played under the floodlights of fortress Prenton Park on a Friday night.
It would usually see a larger attendance for the game, while the matches themselves were often feisty or memorable matches played out under the glare of the floodlights. Football fans around Merseyside remember the days, including Liverpool and Everton supporters who would take the opportunity to see another live game ahead of their own team’s matches the next day.
In the years since, chance meetings with fans from around the country would regularly bring about recollections of “your boys playing on Friday nights” and such like.
It’s been a while since Friday night games were a regular occurrence for Rovers, but the return to the Football League has heralded two traditional north-west fixtures being switched to Friday, thanks in no small part to the co-operation of both opponents.
Friday 12th October will see Macclesfield Town visit Birkenhead. Macc of course enjoyed their last trip to Prenton Park under the floodlights very much, thrashing Rovers on the way to the league title. Thankfully, Micky Mellon’s men stuck at it and joined them back in the EFL.
In March 2019, Crewe will make the short trip to Prenton Park on Friday 8th for the second FNF game of the season. While many Tranmere fans are now happily adapted to Saturday fixtures, it will be a welcome dose of nostalgia as the club looks to begin its ascent up the divisions once again.
Speaking about the return of Friday Night Football, Chairman Mark Palios told tranmererovers.co.uk:
“I’m delighted we’re able to bring Friday nights back to Prenton Park this season, especially with one of the matches being against my old club Crewe Alexandra.
“They were always special nights as a player with big crowds and a great atmosphere and hopefully we can have a couple of great games against Macclesfield and Crewe this season.
“We know a lot of our supporters have been keen for us to try to bring back Friday night football and we’re delighted that Friday night is Prenton night again, at least for two games.”
