Preston's pre-season visit to Halifax will stir memories for Shay director Bobby Ham.
Now 72, the former striker spent 12 months at Deepdale in the early seventies, scoring 14 times in 43 appearances.
Ham, who had a spell at Town as a junior, also played for both his hometown clubs, Bradford Park Avenue and Bradford City, as well as Grimsby and Rotherham.
A Division III title winner with Preston in 1970-71, he netted 156 times in 460 league games overall and later managed Gainsborough, Matlock and Guiseley.
Preston paid Bradford City £8,000 for his services and he helped them win promotion to Division II as champions under Alan Ball Snr, who also had two spells as manager of Halifax.
Ham, on the Halifax board since the club reformed in 2008, joined forces with brother Alan, who also played for Park Avenue, to run the Bradford Dukes speedway team for a spell.
Preston’s visit to The Shay is on Wednesday, July 23, reviving a fixture which first took place during that 1970-71 Third Division campaign, when the Shaymen narrowly missed out on promotion, finishing third behind North End and Fulham.
Both sides suffered play-off semi-final heartache against the eventual winners last season, Preston losing to Rotherham in League I and Halifax to Cambridge in the Conference.
Neil Aspin’s Shaymen also have home friendlies against Barnsley (Saturday, July 12), Rochdale (Tuesday 15) and Notts County (Saturday 26) as they ploy another promotion push.
Aspin is set to reshape his squad, with plenty of interest being shown in his current players including hot shot Lee Gregory, who fired in 32 goals last season, and reflected: “Obviously when you have a good season, there will be other clubs who want your players.
“You don’t want to lose players, but there comes a point when if a club at a higher level is willing to pay a decent fee, there will be movement.
“We’re not in a position where we need to be giving our best players away and we’ll fight hard to keep them here, but you have to be realistic.
“The current situation can make things a bit more complicated, but there is a lot of negotiating going on, and it’s a busy time.”
Aspin is pleased with a pre-season programme which also includes trips to Winsford, Tadcaster, his former club Harrogate Town, Mossley and Buxton.
“We have a lot of games and a good mix,” he said.
“We wanted a few where we could play some younger lads, and while the Football League teams will give us a good test, we know the results shouldn’t be looked into too much.”
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