[themaclad]

It has changed a bit in recent years

LAST TIME OUT



MANAGER

Seems a decent bloke and anyone who can piss that tool off at Forest Green Rovers deserves an accolade

On 11 October 2013, Edwards announced that he had retired from professional football at the age of 30.[32] He became Under-18s coach at Wolves, and his first season in charge (2014–15) was considered very successful by local newspaper Express & Star.[33] He was promoted to help Head Coach Kenny Jackett for the final two months of the season, and then to the role of full-time First Team Coach during the summer of 2015.

On 25 October 2016 Edwards was appointed interim head coach at Wolves following the sacking of Walter Zenga.[34] He took charge of two games – a 1–1 draw at Blackburn Rovers, followed by a 2–3 defeat to Derby – before Paul Lambert took charge. Edwards remained at a club in the role of first team coach until the conclusion of the season when he departed alongside Lambert.[35]

On 28 June 2017, Edwards was named as the new manager of his hometown club AFC Telford United.[36] The Bucks finished in 14th place in the National League North, 10 points outside the play-offs. Edwards left by mutual consent at the end of the season.[37]

Edwards was appointed as the head coach of Wolverhampton Wanderers U23 on 20 July 2018.[38] In his first season in charge, he led them to promotion to Premier League 2 Division 1, the highest level of youth football, for the first time in their history.[39]

In October 2019, Edwards left Wolves to take up a 'prestigious role' with The Football Association working as a coach with the England U20s.[40] On 24 September 2020, he was appointed as head coach for the England under-16 team.[41]

Forest Green Rovers
On 27 May 2021, Edwards was appointed Head Coach of League Two side Forest Green Rovers, joining the role on 4 June in order to be able to finish the season with his England sides.[42] After picking up four wins from his first five matches, Edwards was awarded the EFL League Two Manager of the Month award for August 2021 with his star striker Matty Stevens winning the Player of the Month award.[43] He won the award for a second time for November following three wins from three.[44]

Edwards then won the manager of the month award for a third time for January 2022 after picking up 14 points from six matches, including a 4–0 win away at second-placed Tranmere Rovers, moving ten points clear at the top of the league.[45] On 23 April, Forest Green drew 0–0 away at Bristol Rovers to secure promotion to League One for the first time in the club's history.[46] The following day, Edwards was named the 2021–22 EFL League Two Manager of the Season at the league's annual awards ceremony.[47] On 11 May, he departed the club following negotiations with Watford.[48]

Watford
On 11 May 2022, Edwards was announced as the new head coach of Watford, taking over from Roy Hodgson at the conclusion of the 2021–22 season.[5]

https://www.watfordfc.com/
@WatfordFC

Ray Cooper

Cooper was born in Watford, Hertfordshire. In addition to percussion, Cooper studied classical piano, strings and woodwind, as well as theatre. He later joined the band Blue Mink, and as a session musician he played on records for artists such as America, Carly Simon and David Essex.[5] He played on and co-produced the album Somewhere in England by George Harrison in 1981.

Cooper has long been associated with Elton John's career, playing on more than 90 recordings, and performing in more than 800 concerts with John both as a duo and in the Elton John Band. His first appearance with John was during the sessions for Madman Across the Water, and he played his first live show with him in early 1972. Cooper had a short stint with The Rolling Stones playing percussion for their 1974 It's Only Rock 'n Roll album. After contributing to various Elton John albums, Cooper joined the Elton John Band full-time in 1974 and spent the next two years recording and touring with the group.

During John's semi-retirement in the late 1970s, Cooper played on various singles and albums for John, and recorded with George Harrison, the Kinks, Wings and Art Garfunkel. In 1977 and again in 1979, Cooper toured with Elton John as a duo in which John would play a solo set and then be joined by Cooper on percussion for the second half of the concerts.

Cooper's relationship with the Rolling Stones continued into the 1980s. In 1981, he contributed to Bill Wyman's third solo album. In 1983, he participated in a short tour for the Ronnie Lane ARMS Charity Concert along with Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page, Jeff Beck and other artists, including Bill Wyman and Charlie Watts.

In the 1980s, Cooper continued to record and tour periodically with Elton John. In 1986, he joined John's touring band for the Tour De Force (tour) concerts in Australia with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, augmenting Jody Linscott, who was the band's percussionist on the rest of John's world tour.

Cooper showed up on Christine McVie's self-titled solo album in 1984. In 1985, Cooper appeared on both Mick Jagger's She's the Boss album and Bill Wyman's Willie & The Poor Boys. Also in 1985, Cooper performed as percussionist for a number of artists during the charity event Live Aid. In 1997, he guested with Bill Wyman's Rhythm Kings for Struttin' Our Stuff.

In every tour during 1990, Eric Clapton and the band played "Sunshine of Your Love", which then flowed into a short one-minute drum solo by Steve Ferrone (drummer for Clapton's band on the tour), then into a seven-minute percussion solo by Cooper on the tambourine, congas and gong. On 16 January 1992, he played percussion for Clapton's instalment of the MTV Unplugged television series.

During 1994 and 1995 Face to Face tours with Billy Joel, and during Elton John's tours in 1995, Elton John played "Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting", which then flowed into a solo by Cooper on percussion. In the 1995 "Evening With Elton John and Ray Cooper" tour, the two men performed in Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Venezuela and Costa Rica, where John performed a solo set, then was joined by Cooper on percussion for the second half of the show. On 15 September 1997, Cooper was the principal percussionist along with Phil Collins at the Music for Montserrat fund raiser concert in Royal Albert Hall. Cooper was part of the band at the Concert for George, the memorial concert for George Harrison, held at the Royal Albert Hall in 2002. He contributed to the tribute concert for Jim Capaldi in January 2007. He worked on Katie Melua's album Pictures (2007).

Film work
Towards the end of the 1980s, Cooper got involved in film as a musician, actor and producer. His work in film production included work for HandMade Films, which was owned by his friend George Harrison.[6]

Cooper has played small roles such as the preacher in Robert Altman's feature film Popeye (1980) starring Robin Williams and Shelley Duvall. He has performed music in several of Terry Gilliam's productions, appearing on-screen in quirky roles like the technician who swats the beetle at the beginning of Gilliam's 1985 film Brazil and as the functionary whispering in the ear of Jonathan Pryce's Right Ordinary Horatio Jackson character in 1989's The Adventures of Baron Munchausen. He appeared in the Concert for Cascara in the 1985 film Water, and appears as a street commercial for The Zero Theorem.

Recent work
Cooper has continued recording and performing with Elton John on various albums and tours, including John's The Million Dollar Piano show in Las Vegas.[7] In 2009, John and Cooper performed a small exclusive series of shows, mostly in the UK and Europe, the first time since 1995 that the two had toured together without a band. Amongst their performances was one at the Royal Albert Hall to raise funds for a new organ which the Royal Academy of Music would assemble in their Duke's Hall. They raised further funds with a further performance at the Royal Opera House in 2011. The organ has been named the Sir Elton John and Ray Cooper Organ, and was heard for the first time on 7 October 2013.[8][5] In a greeting to Cooper on his 70th birthday, John's website stated that when Elton composed the song "Tambourine" for his 2016 Wonderful Crazy Night album, he made sure to bring in Cooper to play the instrument on the track. As of June

[themaclad]

Preston North End are at Deepdale for the second time this week on Saturday afternoon when they take on Watford.

In The Dressing Room

Álvaro Fernández will be unavailable once again as he continues his recovery from an ankle injury. The Manchester United loanee will be assessed by his parent club on Friday, while Ryan Lowe expects the left wing back to be back in action at some stage next week.

Sean Maguire returned to training on Thursday morning with the squad, but this game will likely come too soon for him.

Bambo Diaby also remains sidelined, with the defender expected to return to training next week.

A Look At Our Visitors


It’s been a steady start to life back in the Championship for Watford, under the management of Rob Edwards, who was appointed after his success in achieving promotion to League One with Forest Green Rovers.

The Hornets have taken eight points from their opening four games of the campaign, winning both of their matches on home turf and drawing away at West Brom and Birmingham City.

While Emmanuel Dennis has moved on to the Premier League, and Ismaïla Sarr could yet also depart, there has been plenty of encouraging inbound movement, with Hamza Choudhury and Keinan Davis both arriving on loans from top flight clubs in the past ten days.

Going Head To Head


Games played: 44
PNE wins: 18
Draws: 13
Watford wins: 13
Last PNE victory: PNE 1-0 Watford, 25th August 2015.

One To Watch


João Pedro is one of many attacking threats Watford possess which PNE will have to be wary of on Saturday afternoon, if he is to play.

The Brazilian forward showed what he can do at this level in the 2020/21 campaign as a teenager new to English football – netting nine goals – and his game has only improved since then.

Despite transfer speculation surrounding him, he has started each match so far this season, and head coach Rob Edwards is unsurprisingly very keen for the 20-year-old to stay at Vicarage Road.

Match Officials


Experienced official Darren Bond will referee at Deepdale for the first time in almost two years on Saturday afternoon.

He last took charge of a PNE home game in October 2020, when Millwall were the visitors, while the last time he refereed North End was last season’s 1-0 away victory against Hull City.

Bond has taken charge of three Championship fixtures so far this season, showing 13 yellow cards.

Ins and Outs

http://www.sportsbabble.co.uk/showthread.php?tid=11481


MACS VIEW

Good test this will be newly demoted Watford, already adopted by Sky along with Sunderland as being the new Derby County in relation to coverage, already sen them three times from the comfort of ones armchair.
Well organised, lightening fast on the break and have the ability to score from 60 yards, they have a defender who probably shaves using a blow torch Sierrialta
Still probably getting used to the way Edwards wants them to play meanwhile we cannot score, given the solidity of the visitors defence think this will be a one goal game.

[themaclad]

Preston North End 0 Watford 0

PNE line-up: Woodman; Storey, Lindsay, Hughes (Cunningham, 19); Potts, Ledson (McCann, 74), Whiteman, Johnson (Riis, 66), Brady; Browne (Woodburn, 74); Parrott. Subs not used: Cornell, Bauer, Evans.

Watford line-up: Bachmann; Kabasele, Sierralta, Cathcart; Sema, Choudhury, Asprilla (Gosling, 80), Kayembe, Kamara; Manaj (Hungbo, 84), Bayo. Subs not used: Okoye, Gaspar, Troost-Ekong, Pollock, Forde.

Referee: Mr D Bond.

Attendance: 15,317 (1,125 Watford fans).

Preston North End kept a fifth consecutive clean sheet in the Championship as they were made to settle for a point in a goalless draw against Watford.

The hosts had the better of the play for much of the contest, with Alan Browne perhaps having the pick of the chances in both halves, but they could not find an opening goal.

Ryan Lowe named an unchanged side from midweek against Rotherham United and the Lilywhites looked to pick up where they left off, with a bright start against the Hornets.

Robbie Brady and Andrew Hughes combined neatly down the left flank, with the latter cutting back for Browne to control superbly with his back to goal, and his effort was acrobatically turned over by goalkeeper Daniel Bachmann.

Vakoun Bayo provided an early threat at the other end, going close when he latched onto strike partner Rey Manaj’s pull-back from the right, being kept out by Brad Potts’ crucial block, before breaking in behind minutes later and being denied by a fine Freddie Woodman one-on-one save.

Hughes made way after 19 minutes, with the Welshman unable to continue having gone down around ten minutes earlier, allowing Greg Cunningham to come on in his place to make his 150th appearance for the club.

Cunningham flighted a lovely cross just over the head of Troy Parrott moments after his arrival, with the Lilywhites’ No.15 having also just stung the palms of Bachmann with an effort from distance, while Daniel Johnson was narrowly off target from similar range.

It was Ryan Ledson’s effort that was the pick of the strikes from range, though, with his effort looking destined for the bottom left corner until Bachmann parried it clear.

The final five minutes of the first half saw the visitors go close twice, as Edo Kayembe weaved his way to the edge of the box to curl just wide of the top left corner, and Francisco Sierrralta had his header well saved by Woodman on his line from a corner shortly after.

It was a quiet start to the second half until just before the hour mark, when Browne flicked a Ledson cross goalwards from the edge of the six-yard box, and the skipper was only denied by another outstretched Bachmann save.

The other side of the hour saw Manaj played in behind on a Hornets counter for an equally inviting opening, but as he moved in on goal, he blazed his shot over Woodman’s crossbar.

Browne looked to turn provider back in front of the Town End when he played Parrott in behind, but his shot was met by a sliding block from Christian Kabasele.

A spell of pressure from the visitors followed as Kayembe dragged a shot wide of the near post before Bayo went in behind again, but shot into the side netting from a tight angle down the right of the box.

Emil Riis went in behind down the left late on, but he too could only find the side netting as North End were ultimately made to settle for another point.

[themaclad]

Preston boss Ryan Lowe:

"Watford are all big, strong lads - you don't play in the Premier League for nothing. I know they've come down, but I thought we handled ourselves fantastically well.

"There was a few moments which were a little bit scary in terms of their quality, but more importantly for us to keep playing the way we are on a weekly basis is pleasing.

"The only frustration is we haven't scored to give our fans something to sing about - they've been great. We've had seven points out of five league games, we would have loved nine or 10, 11 or 12.

"We're just lacking that little bit of quality in front of goal and, once we get that, whether it ricochets off a body or a head, whatever way it comes, I'm sure we'll move on up."

Watford manager Rob Edwards:

"It was a hard-earned point that could have been three. Preston have shown they are very difficult to score against, but the thing is, maybe we could have taken one of our three or four big chances that we did have.

"I think they're good players and we would expect them, on another day, to put those away.

"And they know that as well, because they're good players and we've got to demand high standards. When you get those sorts of chances, you need to punish teams.

"Our goalkeeper has made some good saves as well, so if you don't win it, make sure you don't lose."