Fakenham Town are set to host two prestigious pre-season friendlies this summer, writes Tony Miles.

The Thurlow Nunn League Premier Division club have pulled off a major coup by securing the visit of ‘development squads’ from both Leicester City and Norwich City.

The first fixture against newly-crowned Premier League champions Leicester will take place on Wednesday July 20. The warm-up match will kick-off at 7pm.

The recently-relegated Canaries then visit on Saturday July 23. That fixture gets under way at 3pm.

While development squads generally means the under-21s, being pre-season it’s possible that fringe players, returning (from injury) players or even trialists (as Norwich have included in the past) may feature.

It’s hoped that both will attract bumper crowds for the Ghosts, with tickets going on sale on Wednesday June 15.

Work behind the scenes readying Clipbush Park for the matches began as soon as the season finished, with a merry gang of workers – including members of the committee, youth managers, coaches and players – covering the vast array of jobs that need doing.

Club chairman Andrew Jarvis was quick to praise everyone involved in the behind-the-scenes work.

“With such illustrious opposition willing to come along to play us, we want the whole ground to look the part,” he said.

“We’ve got a great team here at Fakenham, both on and off the pitch, and so many are putting in the effort to get everything up to scratch.

“I really can’t thank them enough for their help.”

Club ambassador Nigel Worthington –who managed Norwich from 2000-2006 and was caretaker boss at Leicester in 2007 – has also been no stranger to rolling up his sleeves to paint the walls either – a far cry from his management days.

“I can’t imagine Delia Smith would ever have asked Nigel to get up a ladder to ‘give the place a fresh lick of paint’, but he’s here to chip in to help and certainly has made a difference,” said Jarvis.

Ticket prices for both fixtures will be announced in due course, and will be available direct from the club website www.fakenhamtownfc.co.uk, as well as other outlets.

In other news, the club’s annual general meeting will be held on June 14. The event will begin at 7pm.

Having avoided relegation on the final day by right, Fakenham will be joined by two familiar foes next season after the Thurlow Nunn League unveiled the make up of their two divisions for 2016/17.

Despite failing to finish outside of the bottom three, Swaffham Town – as expected – were handed a relegation reprieve. But there was a serious surprise when second-from-bottom Thetford Town were also granted a lifeline to remain in the top-flight.

That move came about because of the FA’s desire to add more clubs to the level below the Ghosts, with four teams being handed promotion.