Blackburn feeling pre-season buzz (From Bradford Telegraph and Argus)

Blackburn feeling pre-season buzz

1:36pm Friday 26th June 2009

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The new shirts are still in their wrappers, the grass is growing nicely and there is a faint waft of fresh paint at Horsfall Stadium.

Everything is in place ready for the players’ return to pre-season training on Tuesday.

And Avenue’s chief executive Bob Blackburn is as keen as anyone to see them back in action.

He said: “I’m looking forward to it and am very excited about the coming season. For once I will be able to watch some of the pre-season friendlies.”

Avenue kick off their warm-up games with a big Bradford derby against neighbours City a fortnight on Wednesday.

Huddersfield Town, Leeds United and Oldham Athletic all follow the Bantams to Horsfall in pre-season.

“I usually go away on holiday at this time of year but I have worked around the friendly games this time,” continued Blackburn. “My wife and my lad have gone to Spain for a month and I’m joining them in between our pre-season games.

“The new kits are all in now and they look great. We have done deals with Nike and Sportsbulk Supplies of Bradford and they have really done us proud this term.

“The first-choice kit is traditional green and white, the away kit is like the Inter Milan red and black stripes and our third kit is similar to the Chelsea day-glow yellow.

“Most of the work so far has been concentrated off the pitch as we have been refurbishing the surroundings.

“The painting has been done, new sponsorship boards are up, a lot of work has been going on in the car park and the perimeter fencing has been spruced up.

“Kevin Hainsworth (another of Avenue’s three main directors) and his workers have been heavily involved and they have done a lot of work on the playing surface. Not just on the pitch itself but also the drainage channels around the edges.”

Meanwhile, boss Lee Sinnott is hoping to add several new faces to his squad very soon. Blackburn said: “We expect to be in a position to announce some newcomers next week.

“There will definitely be three, maybe four. Three of the deals are almost done while one issue looks like heading for arbitration but we’ll know one way or another before too long.”

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