THE 2016/17 season gets under way for St Helens Town with their first pre-season friendly game away to Coppull United next Thursday evening, 14 July, 6.45pm.

The draws for the FA Cup and FA Vase are due to be made at Wembley Stadium on Friday, but Town are uncertain at this stage whether their entry has been accepted into the premier knock-out competition.

As the Extra-Preliminary Round is due to take place on the same day as the opening day’s fixtures in the Hallmark Security (formerly North West Counties) League, St Helens will not know until this weekend whether they will be playing an FA Cup tie or a league game when the new season opens on Saturday, 6 August.

The development of the new ground at Ruskin Drive is now under way, but it seems clear that the facilities will not be available until the whole site, including the designated car park, has been finished, which might mean that the first home game will not take place until early October.

In the meantime, however, the club has entered into an arrangement to use the excellent facilities at Prescot Cables’ ground at Valerie Park, Eaton Street, for as long as necessary.

League fixtures for the opening weekend’s matches will be issued this weekend, with the rest of the August programme to follow very shortly, with the full season’s programme available before the end of July.

The draws were made last weekend for the Macron Challenge Cup (formerly the Men United Cup) and the Reusch First Division Trophy.

In the Macron Cup, which includes all 44 league clubs, Town have drawn AFC Darwen at home in the First Round, with the winners travelling to Eccleshall in the Second Round.

The First Division Trophy has been zoned into North and South areas in the first two rounds and, having secured a bye in the First Round North, St Helens will entertain Daisy Hill in Round 2.

Dates for both competitions will be fixed in due course, games to be played on Saturdays.

Meanwhile, Town are to feature in a special exhibition at St Helens Library between Monday and Friday 5 August, when the three major trophies the club has won during its 70-year history will be on display. The George Mahon Challenge Cup, won by Town during the Bert Trautmann days of 1948/49, is to be loaned by Liverpool County FA, the Lancashire Combination Trophy (now the Macron Challenge Cup) won in 1971/72 will be on loan from the Hallmark Security League and the club will be displaying their own replica FA Challenge Vase Trophy won at Wembley in 1987.

Many other items of memorabilia are to be showcased and club officials are to be in attendance on the afternoon of Wednesday, 5 August, to greet fans old and new, share memories and look forward to the return to the borough in a few months’ time.

Further details will be published nearer the time, but anybody with items of memorabilia should contact club historian Glyn Jones or chairman John McKiernan via the club website.