Tranmere hoping Friday night factor works again

Sep 14 2007 by Nick Hilton, Liverpool Daily Post

No-one can explain exactly why it makes such a difference – but the Friday night factor works for Tranmere Rovers at Prenton Park.

Send them out on a Saturday afternoon and Rovers usually produce the kind of results that can hardly be described as exceptional.

But bring the kick-off forward by 19 hours or so and they become markedly more impressive.

Statistics from the last three League One seasons show Tranmere were almost twice as likely to record victories in home games played on Friday evenings than those staged on Saturday afternoons.

And manager Ronnie Moore hopes the Friday night factor can work for Tranmere again tonight, when they play host to Luton Town (kick-off 7.45pm).

A victory over the Hatters in the first Friday fixture of the new season can lift Tranmere into a joint share of the League One leadership overnight – and, Moore hopes, put pressure on the early front-runners playing tomorrow.

Moore said: “You can’t beat a Friday night at Prenton Park. The atmosphere is different to any other day or night game here.

“I would certainly not like to come to Prenton Park on any Friday night as a visiting manager.

“It is something about the people who come here on Fridays. They get behind the team and create a mood that is special.

“And when you win your Friday night game the rest of the weekend is especially good. All the pressure is on the other teams playing on the Saturday afternoon.”

The phenomenon is by no means recent. Back in the 1960s and 1970s Tranmere were permitted to play the majority of their home games on Fridays. And three decades ago Fridays were frequently a personal goalscoring party night for Moore.

A large proportion of the 37 league and cup goals Moore plundered in Tranmere’s Division Four promotion campaign of 1975-76 were scored in Friday night games.

Rovers have returned to the tradition of Friday fixtures on a limited basis in recent years, averaging around six games per season. While the size of attendances did not rise dramatically, results certainly benefited.

They won 12 out of 18 Friday home league games over the past three League One campaigns, while posting victories in just 12 out of 33 games played on Saturday afternoons during the same period.

Moore suspects that the record of success may be discouraging visiting teams from agreeing to play Tranmere a day ahead of schedule, unless they are compelled to do so on the advice of Merseyside Police.

Luton’s visit is the first of five Friday games this season, the second of which, against Walsall on October 12, was belatedly brought forward to avoid a clash with Euro 2008 international qualifying games being played the following day.

Moore said: “You can see why we don’t have so many Friday games this season. Some teams are frightened to come here on Fridays when they look at our results.”

Luton boast the kind of experience in the ranks that should help them deal with any raising of the decibel levels of Prenton Park this evening.

Manager Kevin Blackwell took over the side after Merseysider Mike Newell, the architect of Luton’s promotion to the Championship in 2005, departed last season. And while Blackwell may not have prevented the Hatters sliding back into League One, he boasts a squad regarded by many in the division as strong enough to bounce back this season.

Moore said: “Luton will probably give us one of the hardest games we will have this season. They have a lot of strength and experience and Kevin will have them wound up.

“They were unfortunate to lose at home to Bristol Rovers last weekend. Our reports say they had the better of the game.

“But we don’t fear anyone. It’s down to what we do. We are unbeaten in four games and I believe we were stronger than we were last season.

“A lot of the players have been together for more than 12 months and they know each other and the pattern of play better.

“We are only five games into the season. But it’s nice to have the points on the board.”