Prenton Park - Tranmere Rovers

Tranmere Rovers - Prenton Park

Tranmere Rovers Football Club
Prenton Park
Prenton Road West
Birkenhead
Wirral
CH42 9PY



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HISTORY/FACTS ABOUT THE ROVERS:

• Tranmere Rovers Football Club were formed in 1884, then known as Belmont Football Club. Their 1st win came in November that year, a friendly match with Brunswick Rovers with a 4-0 win.
• Tranmere played their first matches at Steeles Field in Birkenhead. In 1887, they bought Ravenshaws Field from Tranmere Rugby Club. In 1895, their ground was renamed Prenton Park, although it was 25 years later that the team moved into the current stadium of the same name. Tranmere first wore a kit of blue shirts, white shorts and blue socks. In 1889 they adopted orange and maroon shirts, but in 1904 returned to wearing their original kit.
• In 1886, Tranmere entered their first competition: the Liverpool and District Challenge Cup; in 1889, they entered the West Lancashire League. They joined the Combination, a much stronger league, in 1897, and won the championship in 1908.
• In 1924, local youngster Dixie Dean made his debut aged 16 years 355 days. He played 30 games for Rovers, scoring 27 goals, before being transferred to Everton for £3,000.
• In 1934, an FA Cup tie between Rovers and Liverpool was watched at Anfield by 61,036 fans, then a record crowd for a game involving Rovers. Liverpool won the game 3-1 at Anfield.
• Tranmere have reached the Quarter Finals of the FA Cup 3 times. 1999-00, 2000-01 and 2003-04. Probably arguably their most famous FA Cup win came in 2001, a stunning 3-0 win at Goodison Park, as goals from Steve Yates and Jason Koumas saw off Everton into the 5th round.
• Brian Little was appointed as manager in 2003. He took Rovers to a play-off semi final in 2004–05 and a best ever 6th round replay in the 2004 FA Cup where they lost to eventual finalists, Millwall. At the end of the 2005–06 season, Little left the club and was replaced by former player Ronnie Moore
• Tranmere's 2017–18 season got off to a poor start, with 3 wins from the first 12 games. Tranmere slipped to 18th in the league, their lowest ever league position. A spectacular winter turnaround saw Tranmere move into the play-offs, where they would find themselves for the remainder of the season. This turnaround included a record breaking run of 9 consecutive home league wins. This record breaking stint was ended in February by a 4–1 defeat at the hands of eventual title winners Macclesfield Town. Tranmere responded to this defeat by winning 8 out of their next 9 games, finishing the season as National League runners up for the second time in as many years.
• A new play-off system was in place for the 2017–18 season, which meant that Tranmere faced a one-legged play-off home semi-final against either 5th or 6th place. It was 6th place Ebbsfleet United that found themselves travelling up to Prenton Park after beating Aldershot Town on penalties. In the semi-final, Tranmere came from behind twice to take the game to extra time, the full-time score being 2–2, James Norwood with the first goal and Burnley loannee Josh Ginnelly with the second. An extra time free kick from James Norwood, followed by a goal from Larnell Cole saw Tranmere run out 4–2 victors after extra time, sending Tranmere to Wembley for the National League play-off final. Boreham Wood stood between Tranmere and a return to the Football League. On 12 May 2018, a crowd of 16,306 were at Wembley for the final. Tranmere were 2–1 victors, their first trophy in 27 years, and were promoted back to the Football League.
• Rivalries includes Chester, Wrexham and Southport. According to the Football Fans Census in 2003, Tranmere fans listed Bolton Wanderers as their main rivals along with Chester. Despite geographically being close to Everton and Liverpool, Tranmere have spent most of their time in the lower leagues.  In a more recent census, Oldham Athletic overtook Bolton as their main rivals, with Everton and Liverpool in joint third, although the census does not contain non-league clubs.

MY VISITS:

VISIT 1: Tranmere Rovers 1-2 Gillingham 20/12/13
VISIT 2:  Tranmere Rovers 2-2 Gillingham 7/9/19

FIRST VISIT TO PRENTON PARK;

Tranmere Rovers 1-2 Gillingham
Friday 20th December 2013
League One



The only time I have been to Prenton Park was in 2013 just before Christmas. Probably the best weekend whilst a Gills fan as we had played Tranmere on the Friday night, so me and a couple of mates decided to go up to Liverpool and make it a weekend up there. I think we got up there about 3ish on the Friday and had plenty of time to kill. Got to the ground around 7, due to us getting lost on the way, but a great win at Tranmere especially the long journey up on a Friday, and seeing Bayo Akinfenwa score twice and doing the BMO dance in front of the Gills fans. That weekend as well, went to watch Man United vs West Ham on the Saturday as it was only about an hour away from Liverpool so had chance to tick off 2 grounds in one weekend, as Tranmere was a new ground and so was Man United. And then on the Sunday, did a tour of Liverpool followed by a quick trip to Everton. I'd recommend doing a weekend up in Liverpool, plenty to do up there and is a lovely city as well I think. I do like Prenton Park as well, not a bad ground I thought. It is a shame to see at this time of typing, Tranmere in the Conference Premier, I do hope Tranmere get back in the Football League in the near future, I did enjoy coming to Prenton Park that weekend.

VISIT 2: TRANMERE V GILLS; SEPTEMBER 2019:

Tranmere Rovers 2-2 Gillingham
Saturday 7th September 2019
League One


This was one to look out for when the fixtures came out. I had only been to Prenton Park the once in 2013 as Gills played on the Friday night, so did a weekend of it with a couple of mates. I booked train tickets a couple of months before and decided to make a day of it in Liverpool as it's a City I've always enjoyed visiting in the past. The day came, and after leaving home after 6.30am, with a quick change and on the tube to London Euston, I arrived into Liverpool Lime Street shortly after 10.30am. I had booked a tour at Anfield, course the home of Liverpool Football Club at 11am, so realistically needed the trains to be on time! Luckily they were, and with a quick taxi ride to the ground, I arrived at Anfield in plenty of time. A good tour as well it was, as most tours you get taken round by someone who works within the club, but with this one you could go at your own pace which was very good. After finishing the tour, I went round to look at the remembrance for the 96 Liverpool fans that of course sadly lost their lives in the Hillsborough disaster in 1989, an FA Cup tie between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest. Whilst on the way to Anfield in the taxi, the taxi driver recommended I'd get a bus back into the City Centre with the bus stop outside Anfield which helped massively. £2.30 single from Anfield back into the City Centre a good price I won't complain at. So as I got back into the City Centre around 12.30pm, I grabbed a bite to eat and chilled for a bit of time and eventually made my way back to Lime Street station and got another train out to Rock Ferry station. A 15 minute walk or so and I arrived at Prenton Park shortly after 2pm.



THE GAME:

The game was a great watch as Gills raced into the lead after 16 minutes which saw Alex Jakubiak on loan from Watford to put us in front. A mistake from Tranmere's keeper saw a simple tap in from Alfie Jones to double the lead and head into the break 1-0 up. Tranmere came out all guns blazing in the 2nd half, a missed penalty with a great save from Jack Bonham but annoyingly we could clear away and with a scramble in the box, it fell for Connor Jennings with a neat finish. Tranmere equalised 3 minutes later from Paul Mullin to outdo our great work to go 2-0 up. A good point but I felt 2 points dropped after leading at HT. It didn't ruin the day too much though. A quick walk back to Rock Ferry, and I just made the 17.14 train back to Lime Street and after getting the 5.47 train, I was back home shortly after 9.30pm.




THE GROUND:

Tranmere Rovers have been playing at Prenton Park since 1912 after previously playing at Steeles Field in Birkenhead. Prenton Park's largest ever crowd attendance is 26,424 with an FA Cup tie with Stoke City in 1972. Prenton Park now holds 16,567 with away supporters housed in the Cowshed Stand. It can be allocated up to 2,500 supporters. Rock Ferry is the nearest station to the ground, around a 15 minute walk. Also hearing Birkenhead Central is fairly close as well.









GROUND PHOTOS: