Preston North End and Liverpool Legends to Celebrate PNE's History and help the Environment
On Thursday 2nd August Stagecoach North West and Preston North End Soccer Legends Sir Tom Finney and Mark Lawrenson, will be launching a specially-commissioned Preston North End FC branded bus at 11.30am at Deepdale stadium.
The bus will celebrate Preston North End's glorious history and include images, facts and figures from the Club's past 126 years. The bus is a collaboration between Stagecoach North West, Preston North End Football Club and Preston-based World Football Exhibitions Ltd. It is hoped that by giving the people of Preston their own football bus, fans will make the choice to support their team as well as the environment and leave the car at home.
On hand to officially launch the new bus will be Preston North End and England Soccer Legend Sir Tom Finney, who is featured prominently on the vehicle. Sir Tom will launch the bus with fellow Preston North End and Liverpool Legend Mark Lawrenson who will arrive at Deepdale on a Stagecoach Liverpool FC single decker bus - the Champions of Champions.
Tom Wileman, Regional Director for Stagecoach said: "These football buses have been a great idea. The first buses were branded up with Liverpool FC livery and launched at Anfield in June - these have proved so popular, passenger numbers have soared and the buses get a great deal of attention. I'm sure that the good people of Preston will have already seen the Liverpool FC 'open top' double decker as it runs daily on the X2, Preston to Liverpool route, return service. We thought it was about time that we celebrated Preston North End's great heritage and history too"
Ben Rhodes, General Manager of PNE said: "We're delighted that the bus will give supporters an extra incentive to leave the car at home. It will also be a reminder of what's on offer down at Deepdale and will, hopefully, encourage more people to come out and watch our home games."
The Preston North End and Liverpool FC branded buses are the brainchild of Football Historian and Managing Director of Preston-based World Football Exhibitions, Mark Bushell. As a football fan, Bushell is passionate about green issues and wanted to encourage local supporters to leave the car at home and take the bus.
Bushell said: "Like many people I'm frustrated by the amount of traffic on the roads not just on a match day, but also throughout the week. I just thought a great way of attracting people onto the buses was to make them more appealing to people. If the Liverpool bus is anything to go by it would appear that the whole family love them not just the kids."