Preston North End

Preston North End FC was originally formed as a cricket club in the old industrial Lancashire town of Preston in 1863 by Mr Walter Pomfret, playing at Bow Lane and then Moor Park.

In 1877 the club adopted rugby before changing to association football in 1880. While playing friendly games North End reached an FA Cup semi final and then the final in 1887 where they were defeated 2-1 by West Bromwich Albion at Kennington Oval. On route to the final North End hammered Hyde 26-0 in the first round, with Jimmy Ross netting eight goals.

‘The Lillywhites’ became founder members of the Football League in 1888, making an immediate impact as they lifted the league and cup double. They went unbeaten in the league while not conceding a goal in winning the FA Cup. Wolverhampton Wanderers were seen off 3-0 at The Oval as the team earned a nickname of "The Invincibles".

Preston won the title again the following 1889-90 season, and ran in as runners-up for the next three campaigns. However, by 1901 the team were relegated to Division Two before regaining their top flight status in 1903-04.

In 1905 North End were League runners-up once again, but suffered a second relegation in 1912. Remarkably the team were promoted, relegated and then promoted again in successive seasons.

Following World War One, The Lillywhites reached another Cup final in 1922. On that occasion it was Huddersfield Town who lifted the trophy following a 1-0 win at Stamford Bridge. 1924-25 saw another demotion, but Division One football was secured once more in 1933-34.

North end’s heartbreak in FA Cup Finals continued in 1936-37 as Sunderland won 3-1 at Wembley. This was put right the following year as George Mutch scored a stoppage time penalty kick off the underside of the crossbar to defeat Huddersfield Town.

In 1946 the clubs most famous son Tom Finney made his debut. ‘The Preston Plummer’ would receive a knighthood in later years in recognition of his service to North End. He appeared 433 times, scoring 187 goals from his position on the wing. He represented England on 76 occasions. 

The great man received his nickname from the fact that players in his day required a second income to supplement his minimum wage at the football club, something greedy modern players and agents would do well to remember. Another famous name; Bill Shankly was a team mate of this period.

The team would be relegated once more in 1949 but they returned after a couple of seasons to embark on a steady period as crowds flocked to Deepdale to see the likes of Tommy Docherty alongside Finney.

In 1952-53 Preston lost out on the League title on goal average to Arsenal. In 1953-54 West Bromwich Albion defeated North End 3-2 in the FA Cup Final. In 1957-58 Wolverhampton Wanderers pipped the club to the League crown. Finney retired in 1961 as the club were relegated.

In 1963-64, with a young Howard Kendall in the team, PNE reached yet another FA Cup Final where they lost out to Bobby Moore’s bright young West Ham United team. That would be as good as it got around Deepdale for many years to come.

In 1969-70 North End were relegated to Division Three for the first time, although they returned to the second tier at the first attempt twelve months later. Three seasons followed before they went down once more in 1973-74.

Bobby Charlton was recruited as Player Manager, with Nobby Styles also arriving as a player and trusted lieutenant. Charlton lasted just one season as a young Mark Lawrenson started his career in white. In 1977-78 Preston were promoted to Division Two under the guidance of manager Styles.

In 1980-81 North End were relegated once more to Division Three, before dropping down to Division Four for the first time in 1984-85. A year later an artificial pitch was laid at Deepdale in an attempt to raise income streams.

The pitch suited the team as they won promotion in 1986-87 under the management of John McGrath. His side missed out on promotion via the play offs in 1988-89 as they lost out to Port Vale. Managers came and went following McGrath’s departure before John Beck arrived. He could stop the side from relegation to Division Three at the end of the 1992-93 campaign, as the fourth tier had been renamed.

Beck built a fast physical side and took them to the play off final at Wembley in 1993-94, where they were defeated 4-2 by Wycombe Wanderers. Gary Peters took over for the following season as Bury ended North End’s hopes in the playoff semifinal. The team went on to the Division Three title in 1995-96 with the assistance of loanee David Beckham before the plastic was replaced by grass at Deepdale.

David Moyes replaced Peters in January 1998, taking the team to the playoffs in his first full season in control, where they were defeated by Gillingham. The next season; 1999-00 saw North End get back to the second tier as champions of Division One.

In 2000-01 PNE missed out on a Premier League place after going down 3-0 to neighbours Bolton Wanderers at the Millennium Stadium in the playoff final after earlier defeating Birmingham City. They returned at the same stage in 2004-05 as the division had been renamed The Championship. 

West Ham United ended Billy Davies’ side’s dreams of top flight football with a 3-0 victory after Derby County had been earlier dispatched. Under Alan Irvine the following season, Preston reached the play offs once again, but Leeds United won the two legged semifinal. In 2008-09 Sheffield United ended the Lillywhite’s season at the same stage.

Two further managers, Darren Ferguson, and Phil Brown took the Deepdale hot seat before the combination of David Unsworth and Graham Alexander could not save the team from relegation in May 2011. The pair were replaced by the deeply unpopular Graham Westley in January 2012 whose spell lasted just thirteen months before he was replaced by Simon Grayson.

Grayson rebuilt the side to play attractive football. They lost out in the playoff semifinal in 2013-14 to Rotherham United. However, the regrouped and looked destined for automatic promotion. On the final day North End lost away to Colchester United to be leapfrogged by MK Dons.

Chesterfield were defeated in the semi-finals of the playoffs, before Swindon Town were beaten 4-0 at Wembley to seal promotion back to the second tier and end a run of nine previous failures in the playoffs. A Jermaine Beckford hattrick and a goal from Paul Huntington doing the damage.

Stability and consolidation were achieved in the second tier before Alex Neil replaced the outgoing Grayson in June 2017. He took the side to within a place of the playoffs in his first season at the helm before the team had a couple of seasons hovering around the top eight.

Frankie McAvoy was appointed as the new North End manager in May 2021 with the goals of Emil Riis Jakobsen securing midtable respectability twelve months later. By that time Ryan Lowe had been manager for six months.

The team continued to maintain safe finishes without really threatening to break into the playoff places.

Preston North End FC will play in EFL Championship in the 2024-25 season.

My visits

Preston North End 0 Cardiff City 1 (Tuesday 4 November 1986) Division Four (att: 6,614)

My Cardiff supporting mate Gary Griffiths talked me into taking a trip over the Pennines for this clash. I'd been to a few Bluebirds games and generally enjoyed myself. It was the opportunity to get a new ground in as well.

We arrived in good time on a freezing cold winters evening so we went for a walk into the town centre and visited a McDonalds for tea. I remember it being quite a walk, but it seemed a better idea than risking life and limb as was often the case entering a pub in a strange town on a football day.

Deepdale had obviously been one of the great grounds in a bygone day but by now it was showing signs of age. This was shown up all the more because of the sparse crowd in attendance. The capacity had been cut from 41,100 to 19,500. We stood in the Town End which was a decent sized covered terracing. 

To the left was the ornate West Stand with seats behind a terraced paddock with numerous pillars. This continued to join up with the large Kop or Fulwood End with its roof covering the rear half. Finally the Pavilion side completed the picture. 

This side had a fair open terracing at the front with a stand perched at the rear more to the Town End. An artificial playing surface had been laid the previous summer to utilise the grounds use and to bring in badly needed additional finance. It remained in place for eight years.

City won the game with an excellent lobbed goal. The home fans taunted the away end with chants of "Ingerland Ingerland" while the Welsh counteracted with "Who put the ball in the England net? Deigo Deigo", and yes I have spelt his name correctly. The Welsh boys certainly knew how to wind up the home fans.

Preston North End 3 Scarborough 2 (Saturday 7 October 1995) Division Three (att: 7,702)

I travelled to this game in the bottom tier on the Boro supporters coach. Much to our delight we got their before 2pm, even more so when we gained admission into the pub/club behind the Town End. The Preston fans seemed good sorts which was somewhat of a relief as their visiting hordes had not been good ambassadors on their visits to the seaside over the years.

We were located in the paddock to the right of the players tunnel in front of the Pavilion. Boro gave a cracking performance against a good home team, with Don Page actually getting a sweat on, before we eventually went down 3-2. Andy Saville, Steve Wilkinson, and Simon Davey netted for the hosts with Andy Ritchie and Page scoring for the Seadogs.

Deepdale had changed as the new gleaming Tom Finney Stand (with the great mans face picked out in the seats) stared back from where the West Stand once stood. It had corner towers holding it up in a similar fashion to the Stadio Luigi Ferraris in Genoa. The stand itself contained one massive single tier of seats.

We walked back to our coach behind the new stand and saw the rear of the Kop. It was certainly old fashioned. I thought I'd been transported instantly to Rome as it depicted the Coliseum. It did have atmosphere and it was unique. Modern architects please take note!

Tuesday 26th February 2013

After finishing my spell of night shifts I headed to Lancashire so I could tick off Fleetwood Town in my quest to complete all ninety two League grounds in their fixture against Cheltenham Town. As I had to change trains in Preston I thought it a good idea to head up to Deepdale to see if I could get inside to take photos.

The stadium appeared all locked up when I spotted a man going in through a side entrance. I approached him to see if I could go inside. He could not have been any kinder.

He worked behind the scenes at the club. To my eternal shame I didn't complete this blog at the time and his name now escapes me. The wonderful gent took me right round the pitch perimeter and into the changing and treatment rooms. Deepdale had certainly changed.

Three further stands; The Pavilion, Bill Shankly and Alan Kelly all mirrored the Tom Finney Stand. The stadium master plan had been carried out. It was a truly magnificent arena and perfect for a club of North End's status.

I took endless photos. However, owing to my slackness in not updating this page I managed to lose them along with all my other shots.

I had been so pleased to meet with such a good footballing man who had happy memories of Scarborough and the clashes between our respective clubs. The long walk back into town to the station was a doddle and I went to train on Blackpool beach in buoyant mood.

The photos on this page have been taken from the internet as I didn't have the nous to take any on my visits. For some reason I didn't immediately upload my photos after my last visit and I have since lost them.