Darren Ferguson will be breathing a sigh of relief tonight as his Preston side recorded their first victory in seven games with a solitary Iain Hume goal.

Unfortunately Middlesbrough’s victory over high flying Cardiff means that the Lilywhite’s remain grounded at the foot of the table, but they are now within two points of safety as Scunthorpe fall into the drop zone due to the postponement of their game against Nottingham Forest.

The story however will remain to be how long Roy Keane can survive as manager of Ipswich Town as the Tractor Boys extended their run of league defeats to six.

Whilst playing away against any team in the Championship is a difficult task, this was an opportunity for Ipswich to play a side that is also out of form and you can imagine that the fans and chairman would have been looking at a draw as the minimum acceptable result at Deepdale today.

It is unclear where this leaves Roy Keane with Marcus Evans put in a difficult situation, as it is unclear with confidence so low where a turn in fortunes is going to come from.

The former Manchester United midfielder has been at the club for over eighteen months and the team is of his design so excuses are in short supply.

Good chairman are always hesitant about changing manager part of the way through a season (Mike Ashley take note) but with Ipswich now just three points away from the relegation zone we may be at the point where the Irishman’s luck has run out.

However I think that Keane should be given until the New Year to improve results as to change manager going into the busy Christmas period would only destabilise the club further, however another defeat or too and I think I will be writing about his demise.

A fantastic victory for Preston, but the storm clouds continue to gather at Portman Road.

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Can Fergie Complete The Challenge?

If you don’t know already, Darren Ferguson has took the vacant managerial position at Preston North End after Alan Irvine was sacked after a poor run of results. Ferguson will take over a Preston team who currently sit 16th in the Championship and eight points of a play-off position. The former Peterborough manager signed a three and a half years deal and faces the challenge of taking Preston to the next level after many of his predocesors failed at getting Preston Promoted. Fergusons challenge is far from easy and he will need to do the following if he wants to face his father in the league next year.

Gain Confidence

In Preston’s last eight games, they have only won one, as well as drawing two and lost five. This is no where near good enough for a team with Preston’s potential. If they keep this run of form going, it will only make Ferguson’s task harder. The players should be a little bit up beat after the 7-0 thrashing of Colchester on Saturday and Saturday’s fixture at home to Doncaster is winnable and I’m sure Ferguson would like nothing more than to get off to a winning start. If Preston are capable of beating Doncaster on Saturday it will see them rise to the same points tally as Doncaster and move them to just five points off the play-off’s.

Make Deepdale a fortress again

Last season Deepdale was a fortress and one of the main reasons why Preston made the play-off’s, If Preston are going to repeat that feat then they need to regain their great home form. This season Preston have only won four home games out of a possible eleven. If Ferguson can get the team playing and winning games at home again then the play off’s are a possibility.

Transfer Policy

Ideally, Preston would love to spend money on a few new players this transfer window, however that is unlikely to happen. Ferguson will be looking to sell some dead wood which is not good enough for a team aiming for the big time and replacing them with young enthusiastic players. I think its quite likely he’ll be giving his Dad a ring and will want to take a few of Manchester United’s youngster out on loan for the rest of the season to bolster his squad.

So after back to back promotions with Peterborough, Ferguson is about to take on a challenge that could make him a household name in the world of football management due to the failed attempts by many before him. If Ferguson can get Preston playing again and stop the amount of goals being coincided the play-off’s are a huge possibility for Ferguson and Preston who both have great potential.

The thrid round of the FA Cup draw is out and here is who the teams of the CCC will face. The ties will be played the weekend of January 3, 2009. If the tie is tied then a replay will be played.

Portsmouth v Bristol City – Ashton Gate

Sheffield Wednesday v Fulham – Hillbrough

Preston NE v Liverpool – Deepdale

Birmingham City v Wolves – St. Andrew’s Stadium

West Ham United v Barnsley – Upton Park

Manchester City v Nottingham Forest – Eastlands

Cardiff City v Reading – Ninan Park

Ipswich Town v Chesterfield/Droylesden – Portman Road

Charlton v Norwich – The Valley

Torquay v Blackpool – Plainmoor

Leyton Orient v Sheffield United – Brisbane Road

Southampton v Manchester United – St. Mary’s Stadium

Histon v Swansea City – Bridge Road

Forest Green Rovers v Derby County – The New Lawn

QPR v Burnley – Turf Moor

Leicester City v Crystal Palace – Walkers Stadium

Morcambe/Cheltenham v Doncaster

Arsenal v Plymouth – Emirates Stadium

Watford v Scunthorpe – Vicarage Road

Coventry City v Kidderminster – Richo Arena

The Second Round of the Carling Cup is finished and the 16 CCC teams that made it to the Second Round, 10 made
thier way to the third round which will be drawn live on Sky Sports Saturday August 30th and played the week of the 21st of September. I will have the Third Round draw on Monday for the advancing CCC clubs.

Ipswich 2 (Counago 28′,Lisbie 56′) Colchester 1 (Gillespie 87′)

Coventry City 2 (Morrison 45′,Dann 90′) Newcastle 3 (Dann(og)21′, Milner 38′, Owen 97′)

Cardiff City 2 (McCormack (pen)45′, Whittingham 58′) MK Dons 1 (O’Hanlon 75′)

Swansea City 2 (Pintado 63′,Gomez (pen) 105′) Hull City 1 (Windass 11′) AET

Rotherham 0 Wolves 0
Rotherham win on penalty kicks 4-3

Leeds United 4 (Douglas 11′, Beckford 32′, Becchio 52′, Showunmi 76′) Crystal Palace o

Crewe 2 (Elding 24′, Moore 76′) Bristol City 1 (Wilson 79′)

QPR 4 (Stewart 48′, Ledesema 56′,63′,85′) Carlisle United 0

Reading 5(N. Hunt 11′, S. Hunt 15′, Pearce 54′, Karacan 55′, Henry 76′) Luton Town 1 (Charles 80′)

Preston 0 Derby County 1 (Green 40′) Wooo Hooo

Watford 2 (Francis 37′, O’Toole 116′) Darlington 1 ( Blundell) AET

Southampton 2 (Holmes 17′, Lallana 56′) Birmingham 0

Burnley 3 (McCann 12′, Paterson 63′, 79′) Oldham Athletic 0

Huddersfield Town 1 (Flynn 34′) Sheffield United 2 (Henderson 82′, Naughton 83′)

Nottingham Forest 1 (Earnshaw 60′) Sunderland 2 (Bardsley 86′, Healy 93′) AET

Here are the match-ups for the CCC clubs that have advanced to the Second Round of the Carling Cup. Ties will be played on August 26th and 27th at 7:45 GMT unless otherwise changed.

August 26th 

Burnely v Oldham Athletic (League One)

Cardiff City v MK Dons (League One)

Coventry City v Newcastle United (EPL)

Crewe(League One) v Bristol City

Ipswich Town v Colchester United(League One)

Leeds United(League One) v Crystal Palace

Preston NE v Derby County

QPR v Carlisle United (League One)

Reading v Luton Town (League Two)

Rotherham United (League Two) v Wolves

Southampton v Birmingham

Swansea City v Hull City (EPL)

Watford v Darlington (League Two)

August 27th

Huddersfield Town (League One) v Sheffield Untied

Nottingham Forest v Sunderland (EPL)

On Saturday the CCC season officially started as 24 teams battle to win promotion to the English Premier League and the riches that would come with that promotion. For the three promoted teams, Swansea City, Nottingham Forest and Doncaster, they are looking to establish themselves and avoid an immediate return to League One while Reading, Birmingham and Derby County look to bounce straight back to the EPL. One thing that is known about the CCC, there is no sure thing in this division and anything can happen. Here the results from the first weekend of action.

Birmingham City 1 (Kevin Phillips 90′) Sheffield United 0

Blackpool 0 Bristol City 1(Steve Brooker 90′)

Cardiff City 2(Steven Thompson 41,Roger Johnson 90′) Southampton 1 (David McGoldrick 45′)

Charlton 2 (Mark Hudson 3′, Andy Gray 85′) Swansea City 0

Coventry City 2 (Elliot Ward,pen 48′, Leon McKenzie 86′) Norwich City 0

Crystal Palace 0 Watford 0

Derby County 0 Doncaster 1 (Lewis Guy 59′)

Ipswich 1 (Kevin Lisbie 2′) Preston NE 2(Paul McKenna 21, Simon Whaley 34)

Plymouth 2 (Rory Fallon 7′, Marcel Siep 55′) Wolves 2 (Michael Knightly 19′, Sam Vokes 78′)

QPR 2(Fritz Hall 29,31′) Barnsley 1 (Iain Hume 5′)

Sheffield Wednesday 4(Marcus Tudgay 1′,65′, Apko Sodje 4’17′) Burnely 1 (Martin Paterson 6′)

Nottingham Forest 0 Reading 0

The Carling Cup is next up for the CCC teams on Tuesday and Wednesday then back to CCC action on Saturday.

Preston North End

Founded: 1881

Nickname: Lilywhites, Northenders

Ground: Deepdale (21,000)

Last Season: 15th in the CCC 56 points

FA Cup Winners: 1888/89, 1937/38

First Division Winners: 1888/89, 1889/90

Second Division/CCC Winners: 1903/04, 1912/13, 1950/51

Third Division/League One Winners: 1970/71, 1999/00

Fourth Division/League Two Winners: 1995/96

Trivia: Founding member of the Football League,the first English Football Champions, and one of only three clubs to win the title of all 4 professional divisions.

Here are your updated transfers for all the CCC clubs as of 18 July, 08.

Barnsley:  

Out: Dwayne Mattis (released)

Birmingham City

In: Marcus Bent ( Charlton, undisclosed)

Out: Daniel De Ridder (Wigan, free), Oliver Kapo (Wigan 2.5m)

Blackpool

In: Steve Kabba (Watford, loan)

Bristol City:

In: Emad Metab (Al Ahly, 1.5m)

Out: Darren Byfield (Doncaster, free), Enoch Showunmi (Leeds United, free)

Burnley

In: Remco van der Schaaf (unattached)

Charlton Athletic

Out: Marcus Bent (Birmingham City, undisclosed), Chris Iwelumo (Wolves, undisclosed), Darren Randolph (Hereford, loan)

Coventry City

In: Freddy Eastwood (Wolves, 1.2m)

Crystal Palace

Out: Tony Craig (Millwall, undisclosed)

Doncaster Rovers

In: Darren Byfield (Bristol City, free)

Plymouth

In: David MacNamee (unattached)

Out: Peter Halmosi (Hull City, undisclosed)

Preston NE

In: Barry Nicholson (Aberdeen, Free)

 QPR

 Out: Jake Cole (Oxford, free)

Swansea City

In: Stephen Morrison (West Brom, free)

Out: Darren Way (Yeovil Town, free)

Watford

 Out: Steve Kabba (Blackpool, loan)

Wolves

In: Chris Iwelumo (Charlton, undisclosed)

Out: Freddy Eastwood (Coventry City, 1.2m), Charlie Mulgrew (Aberdeen, undisclosed)

Norwich City

In: Sammy Clingan (Nottingham Forest, free), Wes Hoolahan (Blackpool, undisclosed), Ryan Bertrand (Chelsea, loan)

Out: Mark Gilks (Blackpool, undisclosed), Andrew Cave-Brown (Leyton Orient, free) Darren Huckerby (San Jose Earthquakes)

Released: Juan Velasco,Matthew Halliday, Rossi Jarvis, Steven Arnold, Ryan Jarvis, Patrick Bexfield, Bally Smart

Nottingham Forest

In: Robert Earnshaw (Derby County, 2.65M), Andrew Cole (Sunderland, undisclosed), Guy Moussi (Angers, undisclosed)

Out: Kris Commons (Derby County, Free), Alan Pwer (Hartlepool United, free), Junior Agogo (Zamaleck Sporting Club, undisclosed), Grant Holt (Shrewbury Town, 170K), Sammy Clingan (Norwich City, free), Matt Lockwood (Colchester United, free), Felix Bastians (released)

Plymouth

In: Jason Puncheon (Barnet, 250K), Karl Duguid (Colchester United, undisclosed)

Out: Paul Connolly (Derby County, free), Paul Wotton (Southampton, free), Nadjim Abdou (Millwall, free)

Preston NE

In: None

Out: None

Queens Park Rangers

In: Peter Ramage (Newcastle United, free) Samuel Di Carmine (Fiorentina, loan), Radek Cerny (Slavia Prauge, free), Jorge Ledesema ( Genoa, loan)

Out: Stefan Bailey (Grays Athletic, free), Daniel Nardiello (Barnsley, end of loan)

Released: Istvan Ferenczi, Sam Togwell, Paul Reid, Andy Johnson, Kim Christensen

Reading

In: None

Out: Adam Bygrave (Weymouth, free), Joshua Webb (Weymouth, undisclosed), Ben Hamer (Brentford, loan), Glen Little (Portsmouth, undislcosed)

Released: John Oster, Aaron Brown, Ulises De La Cruz, Graham Stack, John Halls

Sheffield United

In: Greg Halford (Sunderland, loan), Sun Jihai (Manchester City, free)

Out: Lloyd Kerry (Chesterfield, free), Chris Lucketti (Huddersfield Town, free)

Released: Paul Gerrard, Dean Oliver, Geoff Horsfield, Stephen Hernandez, James Ashmore, Martin Donnelly

Sheffield Wednesday

In: James O’Connor (Burnely, free)

Out: None

Released: Ronnie Walworkd, Jason Bradley, Burton O’Briend, Rob Burch, Dave McClemments, James Kay

Southampton

In: Lee Holmes (Derby County, free), Chris Perry, Luton Town, free) Paul Wotton (Plymouth, free), Morgan Schneiderlin (Strasbourg, 1.2M), Tommy Forecast (Tottenham, undisclosed)

Out: Cedric Baseya (Lille, free)

Swansea City

In: Ashley Williams (Stockport County, 400K), Albert Serran (Espanyol, 80K), Gorka Pintado (Granada, undisclosed), Federico Bessone (Espanyol, free), Jordi Gomez (Espanyol, loan) Mark Gower (Southend United, free)

Out: Andy Robinson (Leeds United, free) Daryryl Duffy (Bristol Rovers, free), Kevin Austin (Chesterfield, free), Kevin Amankwaah (Swindon Town, free)

Watford

In: None

Out: Nathan Ellington (Derby County, free), Jordan Stewart (Derby County, free) Toumani Diagouraga (Stockport, free) Santiago Aloi (River Plate, end of loan)

Wolves

In: David Jones (Derby County, undisclosed), Sam Vokes (AFC Bournemouth, undisclosed), Richard Sterman (Leicester City, undisclosed)

Out: None

Released: Gary Breen, Keith Lowe Kevin O’Connor

Derby County

16 July Burton Albion (A)

19 July Rotherham (A)

23 July Oldham Athletic (A)

26 July Mansfield Town (A)

29 July Rushden & Diamonds

2 August FC Utrecht (H)

Doncaster

19 July Scunthorpe (H)

29 July Port Vale (A)

1 August Bolton (H)

Ipswich Town

Could not find any information on the clubs pre-season

Norwich City

Tour of Sweden 16-23 July

16 July Gorleston

19 July Ahlafors IF

22 July Falkenbergs FF

28 July Spurs (H)

2 August Colchester (H)

Nottingham Forest

22 July Burton Albion (A)

23 July AFC Telford (A)

25 July Everton (H)

28 July Curzon Ashton (A)

30 July Sunderland (H)

2 August Notts County (A)

Plymouth

29 July Yeovil Town (H)

Preston North End

15 July Bamber Bridge (A)

15 July Chorley (A)

19 July Morcambe (A)

22 July Everton (H)

26 July Carlisle United (A)

30 July Motherwell (A)

2 August Crewe (A)

QPR

Could not find any information

Reading

12 July Didcot Town (A)

15 July Forest Green (A)

19 July MK Dons (A)

Tour of Sweden 23-30 July

24 July FC Trollhattan

26 July Lerkils IF

29 July Halmstads BK

2 August Aston Villa (H)