The Sparta game kicks off at 3:30 p.m. at the Turf due to the flight times of our Dutch opponents but that gives Burnley supporters plenty of time to take in the development squad game at the Arbories against Padiham.
It's a big season for our first opponents Padiham. They won the North West Counties Premier Division in 2012/13 and this coming season will play in the Evo-Stik (Northern Premier) League Division One North.
Their most local opponents will be Clitheroe and Ramsbottom while they will also have fixtures against teams such as relegated Kendal Town and my old non-league club Lancaster City.
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| The Arbories first for the game against Padiham |
Their league season doesn't get underway until 17th August when they travel to Northwich Victoria and, because of their promotion, they will join the FA Cup in the Preliminary Round, one round later than previously, and they've won a home tie against Clitheroe at the end of August with the winners earning a trip to play either Garforth Town or Shildon in the First Round Qualifying.
We wish them well in the new season and hopefully a good number of Burnley fans will make it to the Arbories tomorrow morning for the game which kicks off at 11 a.m. when we'll get a first chance to see Nick Liversedge in action after he was named in goal.
Burnley's team for the game at Padiham includes some of the youth squad which will mean Terry Pashley will be fielding some schoolboys in their game at Gawthorpe which kicks off at the same time. The Padiham game team is: Nick Liversedge, Cameron Dummigan, Jack Errington, Tom Anderson, Kyle Brownhill, Trialist, Luke Daly, Steven Hewitt, Christian Hill, Jamie Frost, Jason Gilchrist. Subs: Conor Mitchell, Archie Love, Ntumba Massanka.
For anyone not sure how to find the ground you go to the top of Padiham where the road forks at a mini-roundabout. Travelling from Burnley take a right turn there into Holland Street and then up the Well Street to the right of the Hare and Hounds pub. The ground is at the top of that street.
Then it is down to the Turf for the first home friendly since Sunderland's visit two years ago. It's an intriguing one too with the visit of Dutch side Sparta Rotterdam.
This week the links between the two clubs previously reported here on Clarets Mad. Both striker David Loggie and central defender Peter Robinson, who once scored a goal in a league win against Blackburn, played for the two clubs.
As far as I know they are the only two but Sparta's current technical analyst is Marco Gentile and he's been somewhat critical of Chris Waddle this week, the Burnley manager during his short stay at Turf Moor.
Some books will report that Jimmy Adamson once managed them but that's not the case. He accepted the job but then pulled out because of family issues.
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| Sparta Rotterdam fans leaving Holland today |
Between 100 and 150 Sparta fans will be travelling to Burnley for tomorrow's game and they will be the first Dutch club to play at Turf Moor since Ajax over 21 years ago.
I've not been able to gather any team news for our opponents but when they played Helmond Sport at the end of last season they lined up: Nico Peliatz, Toni Varela, Gijs Luirink, Robert van Boxel, Cruz Vicente, Steef Nieuwendaal, Donovan Deekman, Jaime Bruinier, Sandro Calabro, Ilias Bel Hassani, Pieter Nys. Subs: Crescendo van Berkel, Henk Dijkhuizen, Jeremy de Nooijer, Mimoun Mahi, Paul Gladon, Mario Bilate.
Head Adrie Bogers, who replaced Henk ten Cate at the end of last season, has added to the squad during the summer with the capture of Roderick Gielisse from Den Haag, Cendrino Misidjan from Go Ahead Eagles and Kahlid Sinouh from NEC Nijmegen.
They are set to play in the Erste Divisie this coming season having been relegated, like Burnley, in 2009/10. They ended last season in third place but missed out on promotion to the Eredivisie in the play offs for a second successive season.
They'll come up against a Burnley side who will be playing the last pre-season game before the home fixture against Bolton kicks off the league programme next Saturday.
Sean Dyche will not have Ben Mee available to him and Michael Duff is also a doubt. If Duff misses out then I think he'll go with the team that started at Tranmere on Tuesday.
We could line up: Tom Heaton, Kieran Trippier, Kevin Long, Jason Shackell, Danny Lafferty, Ross Wallace, Dean Marney, David Jones, Junior Stanislas, Danny Ings, Charlie Austin. Subs: Alex Cisak, Luke O'Neill, David Edgar, Alex Coleman, Joseph Mills, Keith Treacy, Scott Arfield, Brian Stock, Sam Vokes, Ryan Noble.
Clarets Mad would like to thank Sparta Rotterdam for the use of the photograph