Preston North End F.C.

Preston North End

Full name	Preston North End Football Club
Nickname(s)	The Lilywhites, PNE, North End, The Whites. "Proud Preston", '
Founded	1881
Ground	Deepdale, Preston, England (Capacity: 23,408)
Owner	Trevor Hemmings
Chairman	Maurice Lindsay
Manager	Phil Brown
League	League One
2010–11	The Championship, 22nd (relegated)
Home colours Away colours
Current season

Preston North End Football Club is an English professional football club located in the Deepdale area of the city of Preston, Lancashire, currently playing in the third tier of English league football, League One. They were a founding member of the English Football League in 1888 and were the first English football champions.

Based on all results during their 112 seasons in the Football League from 1888–89 to 2010–11, Preston are ranked as the all-time fifth most successful English football club domestically. Only Notts County have played more Football League games than Preston.^[1]

History

Main article: History of Preston North End F.C.

In the past Preston were famously successful, being the first winners of "The Double" in English football. In 1888–89 Preston became the only team to go throughout an entire season unbeaten in both the league and FA Cup – also with the record of never conceding a goal in the FA Cup. Arsenal, in 2003–04, also managed to have an unbeaten season in the top flight (although Arsenal played 38 games to Preston's 22) but went out of the FA Cup at the semi final stage. PNE were league champions again the following season, and have not won the title since. Their last major trophy was an FA Cup triumph in 1938.

Preston were relegated to the Second Division (currently the Football League Championship) in 1961 and have not played in the top division since. They did reach the FA Cup final in 1964, but lost to West Ham United. Preston were relegated to the Third Division in the 1969–70 season. Preston won the Third Division title at the first attempt and so returned to the Second Division.

Without a doubt, Preston's greatest player is arguably one of the greatest footballers of all time and a local lad Sir Tom Finney. Finney is regarded as one of the best of his era and scored 30 international goals in his time. He also made a brief appearance for Distillery of Northern Ireland during their European campaign of 1963. Dubbed the "Preston Plumber" due to Finney actually being a plumber, he remained Preston's most recent full England international until David Nugent who scored on his only international appearance against Andorra.

Bobby Charlton, an England World Cup winner from 1966, was appointed Preston manager in 1973, but was unable to stop them from sliding into the Third Division in his first season and left after two years in charge. A brief respite in 1978 saw them win promotion back to the Second Division, but they went down after three seasons and in 1985 fell into the Fourth Division for the first time in their history.

Preston North End in 1888–89, the first Football League champions, subsequently doing 'The Double'

In 1986, Preston finished second from bottom in the Fourth Division and only avoided dropping into the Football Conference because the other Football League members voted in favour of the division's bottom four teams retaining their senior status.

The arrival of new manager John McGrath saw Preston win promotion to the Third Division a year later, and they were still at this level when McGrath left in 1990. Veteran player Les Chapman took over as manager, but left in October 1992 to be replaced by John Beck. The 38-year-old Beck had only recently been sacked by Cambridge United, where he had achieved two successive promotions and come within a whisker of attaining a unique third. Beck was unable to save Preston from relegation from the first season of the new Division Two. He endured a Division Three playoff final failure before quitting in 1994 to be replaced by his assistant Gary Peters.

Peters guided Preston to Division Three title glory in his first full season as manager, and quit in February 1998 to be replaced by 34-year-old defender David Moyes. Preston quickly developed into Division Two promotion contenders under Moyes, reaching the 1998–99 playoffs (losing to Gillingham in the semi-finals before finally being promoted as champions a year later.

2000s

Preston began the new millennium by winning promotion from Division 2 in the 1999–2000 season as champions. They almost made it two promotions a row in 2001 but lost 3–0 to Bolton Wanderers in the Division One playoff final.

Moyes left for Everton in March 2002, and his assistant Kelham O'Hanlon took over for the remainder of the season. Preston narrowly missed out on the play-offs and in the summer former Scottish national coach Craig Brown took over as manager. Preston were little more than a mid-table side during Brown's tenure, though they were never in any real danger of being relegated. He left in August 2004 to be succeeded by his assistant Billy Davies.

Davies guided Preston to the Championship playoff final in his first season as manager, but they lost to West Ham United. They reached the playoffs again the following year, this time losing in the semi-finals, to Leeds United. Davies then moved to Derby County, subsequently got them promoted via the playoffs, and was replaced by Carlisle United boss Paul Simpson, who took over Davies's team and initially carried on where Davies left off. Preston spent much of the 2006–07 season in the automatic promotion or playoff places, however from March 2007 the club slid rapidly down the league. This happened even after holding on to David Nugent in the transfer window and Simpson being allowed to bring in a number of loan signings. The club failed to make the end-of-season play-offs, despite a 1–0 victory over Birmingham City at Deepdale on the final day of the season. They finished the season in seventh place.

Chart showing the progress of Preston North End through the English football league system from the inaugural season in 1888–89 to 2007–08 when Preston North End came 15th in the League Championship

On 11 July 2007, Nugent, the first Preston player to win an England cap for 50 years, left the club to join Portsmouth for a reported transfer fee of £6,000,000. Although the club lost only one key player (Matthew Drury) and brought in several players including Darren Carter, Kevin Nicholls and Karl Hawley, to reshape the team they did not recover from their poor run of form. In August 2007, Simpson banned the playing of Elvis Presley's Can't Help Falling in Love, a song which had been a popular part of the pre-match music at Deepdale for over ten years, stating, "I don't know whose idea this song is at the start, because it seems to put everyone in a bit of a depression. We have to make sure we get something which the players respond to and go out and perform and the fans respond to as well. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying we are losing games because of that song. But we have to do whatever we can to generate an atmosphere",^[2] a move which angered some Preston fans.^[3] After a bad start to the 2007–08 season which saw the club pick up just three wins, Paul Simpson was sacked as manager on 13 November.

On 20 November 2007, Everton's assistant manager Alan Irvine was appointed as Preston's new manager on a three-and-a-half year deal, and he achieved his first objective as manager by securing Preston's survival by finishing in 15th place. The following season he lead Preston to 6th in the Championship after a good run of form towards the end of the season, qualifying for the playoffs. They missed out on promotion to the Premier League after losing 2–1 on aggregate to Sheffield United, after a 1–1 draw at Deepdale stadium was followed by a 1–0 loss at Sheffield United's Bramall Lane. On 29 December, Irvine was sacked after a poor run of results, with the club appointing Darren Ferguson as his successor on the 6 January. Ferguson made his home debut in a 2–0 loss to Chelsea in the fourth round of the FA Cup, however they won their next two games beating Ferguson's old club Peterborough United 1–0 and Ipswich Town 2–0. This was followed by a run of poor results mainly made up of draws and losses and Preston were soon in danger of relegation, but a 3–2 home victory against Scunthorpe United secured their survival in the Championship. In the 2009–2010 season Preston finished 17th. On 28 September 2010, Preston North End became the first away team to score six goals at Elland Road. Trailing 4–2 at half time, Preston made a sensational second-half comeback to win the match 6–4,^[4] with Jon Parkin scoring his second hat-trick of 2010 (the first being in their 7–0 thrashing of Colchester in the F.A. Cup Third Round on 2 January 2010^[5]), but his first league hat-trick in over 5 years. On 29 December 2010 Darren Ferguson was sacked following the 1–3 home defeat to relegation rivals Middlesbrough.

Former Bolton Wanderers assistant manager and Hull City manager Phil Brown was appointed as Ferguson's replacement and won his first match in his 13th game in charge. This sparked a run of form, but did not prevent their relegation to League One. They beat Swansea City and Sheffield United, but relegation was confirmed by a 0–1 home defeat to Cardiff City in April.^[6] The relegation was marked in the traditional Burial Of The Coffin in Bamber Bridge on the 24 July 2011.

Stadium

Main article: Deepdale

Deepdale Stadium was built in 1860 and was first used for association football in 1878.

Deepdale is claimed to be the longest continuously used football ground in the world^{[citation needed]}, and in 2011 it will have been used for 135 years. The biggest attendance seen was 42,684 for a Division One clash with Arsenal in April 1938^[7] .

In 1933, the Town End burnt down and was demolished and rebuilt. Following a complete reconstruction between 1996 and 2009, the stadium now holds a capacity of 23,408 seats^[8] . The current pitch dimensions are 110x75 yards^[7].

The stadium was chosen as the location for the National Football Museum due to Preston being the first-ever winners of The Football League, therefore making Preston the first home of English football. Having been one of the largest football museums in the world when it closed in 2010, due to size and access considerations^{[citation needed]} it is set to move to Urbis in Manchester by 2012.

Play-off defeats

Preston have made the play-offs in a record eight seasons and in all 3 divisions, but have not yet been promoted via this route. Preston's first appearance in the play-offs was in 1989 where they were beaten in the 3rd Division (now League One) play-off semi final by Port Vale.

In the third division (now League Two, formerly division 4) they lost in the 1994 final to Wycombe Wanderers 4–2 at Wembley after beating Torquay United in the semi finals, then a year later they were beaten by Bury in the semi-finals.

Preston's next appearance was in the then Second Division (now League One) in 1999 where they were beaten by Gillingham in the semi-final. Following promotion to the 1st Division in 1999/2000, Preston reached the play-offs in their 1st season at the higher level where they beat Birmingham City in the semi-final on penalties before being beaten by Lancashire rivals Bolton Wanderers in the final which was the first to be held at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff.

They reached the play-offs again in 2005 where they once again reached the final in Cardiff after beating Derby County in the semi-final, however once again they were beaten in the final, this time by West Ham United. Preston's 2006 play-off campaign again resulted in defeat, this time at the semi-final stage against Leeds United.

Preston North End reached the playoffs once again on 3 May 2009. To get there, on final day of the season they defeated Queens Park Rangers 2–1. Goals from Jon Parkin and Sean St. Ledger, in the 34th and 74th minutes, helped them to overtake Cardiff City, who lost 1–0 to Sheffield Wednesday, to take the 6th place spot, and ultimately, a chance for top flight football in the Premier League. Preston and Cardiff had the same amount of points and the same goal difference, but Preston had scored one more goal and finished ahead of Cardiff in the league table. In the first leg of their semi-final, Preston and Sheffield United drew 1–1 at Deepdale. In the second leg, however, Preston's hopes of Premier League football were shattered once again, losing 1–0 Sheffield, suffering a 2–1 loss on aggregate. A 59th minute goal by Greg Halford sealed Preston's exit from the playoff stages, with Sheffield destined for the playoff final against Burnley at Wembley Stadium which they later lost 1–0.

Managerial history

Main article: List of Preston North End F.C. managers

Listed Preston managers according to when they became manager:

Manager	Nationality	Period	G	W	D	L	Win %	Point Av.
Vincent Hayes	England	1919–1923
James Lawrence	Scotland	1923–1925
Frank Richards	England	1925–1927
Alex Gibson	Scotland	1927–1931
Lincoln Hyde	England	1931–1932
Ashley Marsh	England	2010–2012
Tommy Muirhead	Scotland	1936–1937
Will Scott	England	1949–1953	163	78	36	49	47.85	1.65
Scot Symon	Scotland	1953–1954	63	30	11	22	47.62	1.60
Frank Hill	Scotland	1954–1956	88	31	17	40	35.23	1.25
Cliff Britton	England	1956–1961	230	102	54	74	44.35	1.56
Jimmy Milne	Scotland	1961–1968	350	126	96	128	36.00	1.35
Bobby Seith	Scotland	1968–1970	70	15	21	34	21.48	0.94
Alan Ball	England	1970–1973	118	44	36	38	37.29	1.42
Frank Lord*	England	1973
Bobby Charlton	England	1973–1975	89	29	25	35	32.58	1.26
Harry Catterick	England	1975–1977	90	38	22	30	42.22	1.51
Nobby Stiles	England	1977–1981	174	56	67	51	32.18	1.35
Tommy Docherty	Scotland	1981	17	3	6	8	17.65	0.88
Alan Kelly*	Ireland	1981	1	0	0	1	00.00	0.00
Gordon Lee	England	1981–1983	93	32	25	36	34.41	1.30
Alan Kelly	Ireland	1983–1985	70	23	13	34	32.87	1.17
Tommy Booth	England	1985–1986	42	11	10	21	26.19	1.02
Brian Kidd	England	1986	4	0	1	3	00.00	0.25
John McGrath	England	1986–1990	192	74	53	65	38.54	1.43
Les Chapman	England	1990–1992	91	32	19	40	35.16	1.26
John Beck	England	1992–1994	99	36	20	43	36.36	1.29
Gary Peters	England	1994–1998	159	72	41	46	45.28	1.61
David Moyes	Scotland	1998–2002	234	113	58	63	48.29	1.70
Kelham O'Hanlon*	Ireland	2002	8	4	1	3	50.00	1.62
Craig Brown	Scotland	2002–2004	106	36	30	40	33.96	1.30
Billy Davies	Scotland	2004–2006	101	45	35	21	45.55	1.68
Paul Simpson	England	2006–2007	58	25	10	23	43.10	1.46
Alan Irvine	Scotland	2007–2009	111	45	26	40	40.54	1.45
Rob Kelly*	England	2009–2010	1	1	0	0	100.00	3.00
Darren Ferguson	Scotland	2010	49	13	11	25	26.53	1.02
David Unsworth*	England	2010–2011	2	0	0	2	00.00	0.00
Phil Brown	England	2011–	32	12	9	11	37.50	1.41

* Caretaker manager

Honours

In 1996, their Third Division title glory made them the third and last team to have been champions of all four professional leagues in English football, although this feat had previously been achieved by Wolverhampton Wanderers in 1988 and local rivals Burnley in 1992.

League

• Football League First Division/Premier League (first tier)^[9]
  • Champions: 1888–89, 1889–90
  • Runners-up: 1890–91, 1891–92, 1892–93, 1905–06, 1952–53, 1957–58

• Football League Second Division/Football League First Division (second tier)^[9]
  • Champions: 1903–04, 1912–13, 1950–51
  • Runners-up: 1914–15, 1933–34
  • Play-off Runners-up: 2001, 2005
  • Play-off Semi-finalists: 2006, 2009

• Football League Third Division/Football League Second Division (third tier)^[9]
  • Champions: 1970–71, 1999–2000
  • Play-off Semi-finalists: 1989, 1999

• Football League Fourth Division/Football League Third Division (fourth tier)^[9]
  • Champions: 1995–96
  • Runners-up: 1986–87
  • Play-off Runners-up: 1994
  • Play-off Semi-finalists: 1995

Cup

• FA Cup
  • Winners: 1889, 1938
  • Runners-up: 1888, 1922, 1937, 1954, 1964
  • Semi-finalists: 1887, 1893, 1921

• Football League Cup
  • Fourth Round: 1963, 1966, 1972, 1981, 2003

• FA Charity Shield
  • Runners-up: 1938

• Football League War Cup
  • Winners: 1941

Players

First-team

Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player 1 GK Thorsten Stuckmann 2 DF David Gray 3 DF Conor McLaughlin 4 MF Ian Ashbee (captain) 5 DF Clarke Carlisle (on loan from Burnley) 6 DF Craig Morgan 7 FW Iain Hume (vice-captain) 8 MF Paul Coutts 9 FW Jamie Proctor 10 MF Barry Nicholson 11 FW Juvhel Tsoumou 12 DF Brian McLean 14 DF Steven Smith 15 MF Adam Barton 16 MF Danny Mayor 17 MF Paul Parry 18 DF Daniel Devine

No. Position Player 19 FW Keammar Daley 20 MF Darel Russell 21 GK Iain Turner 22 MF Graham Alexander (vice-captain) 23 DF Scott Leather 24 MF Seanan Clucas 25 GK Andreas Arestidou 26 DF Bailey Wright 27 FW Jamie Douglas 28 MF George Miller 30 DF Alex Billington 31 GK Dominic Comrie 32 FW Michael McLellan 33 FW Neil Mellor 34 FW Jonathan Forte (on loan from Southampton) 35 FW Sam Hoskins (on loan from Southampton)

Youth Team

Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player 29 MF Doyle Middleton 36 MF Luke Clark 40 FW Brandon Zibaka GK Steven James GK Jordan Watson DF Daniel Forbes DF Matthew Greenwood DF Reece James DF Alan Scurry DF Adam Thurston

No. Position Player MF Jordan Bent MF Daniel Birchall MF Ryan Croasdale MF Naim El-Harrati MF Will Hayhurst MF David Kuba-Kuba MF Louis Robinson MF Jack Sowesby FW Matt Dudley FW Sam Osobe

Technical staff

Manager:	Phil Brown
Assistant Manager:	Brian Horton
First Team Coach	David Unsworth
Goalkeeping Coach
Head of the Medical Department	Matt Jackson
Part-Time Physiotherapist	Mick Rathbone
Club Massuer	John Sumner
Director of Youth	Dean Ramsdale
Youth Team Coach	Jamie Hoyland
Assistant Director of Youth	Nick Harrison
Youth Development Officer	Darren Finch
Chief Youth Scout	Jim McCluskie

Club records

• Record Attendance: 42,684 v Arsenal, Football League First Division, 23 April 1938^[10]
• Record Cup Victory: 26–0 v Hyde, FA Cup, 15 October 1887^[10]
• Record League Victory: 10–0 v Stoke, Football League Division One, 14 September 1889^[10]
• Record Defeat: 0–7 v Blackpool, Division 1, 1 May 1948
• Most League Goals: in a Season: Ted Harper, 37 in Football League Second Division, 1932–33^[10]
• Transfer Record (Paid): £1,500,000 for David Healy from Manchester United, December 2000^[10]
• Transfer Record (Received): £6,000,000 for David Nugent to Portsmouth, July 2007^[11]

Rivals

Preston's primary rivalry is with Blackpool F.C., and the West Lancashire derby between the two clubs has been contested nearly 100 times across four divisions of league football. A Blackpool-supporting producer of the television show Countdown took a novel swipe at Preston by displaying the letters "PNECRISIS" for viewers to solve in May 2011. This had come after supporters at both clubs took turns mocking each other at the prospect of Preston's relegation to League 1.^[12]

Preston also enjoys local rivalries with Lancashire clubs Burnley, Blackburn Rovers and to a lesser extent Bolton Wanderers and Wigan Athletic. They have also had clashes with Derby County, which many fans consider to be their biggest historic rivals, along with Carlisle United and Sheffield United. They also still have a large continued rivalry with Leeds United, after many of the first team players joined Leeds United around 2004, causing a lot of resentment towards them and also an acrimonious play off defeat against them 3-1 on aggregate where United finished the second leg with only 9 men. Preston recently defeated Leeds, 6–4, in which they came back from 1–4 down becoming the first team to ever score 6 goals at Elland Road.

Sponsors

Over the years, the club has been sponsored by many local companies, as well as a few national ones, these have included;

• Pontins (1979–1984)
• David Leil (1984–1985)
• Lombard Continental (1985–1986)
• Garratt's Insurance (1986–1990)
• Ribble Valley Shelving (1990–1992)
• Coloroll (1992–1995)
• Baxi (1995–2002)
• NewReg (2002–2005)
• Enterprise Plc (2005–2010)
• Tennents (2010–present)^[13]

Women's football

Main article: Preston North End W.F.C.

The affiliated women's football team is called Preston North End W.F.C., which currently plays in the FA Women's Premier League Northern Division.

Notes and references

1. ^ "England : All Time Table". Statto.com. http://www.statto.com/football/stats/england/all-time-table. Retrieved 29 July 2011. 
2. ^ Ellis, Brian (28 August 2007). "Elvis banned from Deepdale". Lancashire Evening Post. http://www.lep.co.uk/sport/Elvis-banned-from-Deepdale.3150397.jp. Retrieved 29 March 2008. 
3. ^ Edbrooke, David. "Preston North End prospering under Alan Irvine". The Telegraph. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/preston-north-end/2992067/Preston-North-End-prospering-under-Alan-Irvine-Football.html. Retrieved 21 November 2011. 
4. ^ "BBC Sport – Football – Leeds 4–6 Preston". BBC News. 28 September 2010. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/eng_div_1/9031722.stm. Retrieved 25 August 2011. 
5. ^ Steve Martyn (3 January 2010). "Preston 7 Colchester 0: Jon Parkin scores a hat-trick as managerless Preston run riot | Mail Online". Daily Mail. UK. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-1240220/Preston-7-Colchester-0-Jon-Parkin-scores-hat-trick-managerless-Preston-run-riot.html. Retrieved 25 August 2011. 
6. ^ "Preston 0 – 1 Cardiff". BBC Sport. 25 April 2011. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/13112165.stm. Retrieved 25 April 2011. 
7. ^ ^{a b} "North End Statistics". Preston North End FC. 3 April 2008. Archived from the original on 9 December 2008. http://web.archive.org/web/20081209073941/http://www.pnefc.net/page/History/0,,10362~1033911,00.html. Retrieved 22 November 2011. 
8. ^ "Deepdale". Preston North End FC. 1 July 2010. Archived from the original on 26 November 2009. http://web.archive.org/web/20091126163821/http://www.pnefc.net/page/Deepdale/0,,10362~1033873,00.html. Retrieved 22 November 2011. 
9. ^ ^{a b c d} Up until 1992, the top division of English football was the Football League First Division; since then, it has been the Premier League. Similarly until 1992, the Second Division was the second tier of league football, when it became the First Division, and is now known as The Championship. The third tier was the Third Division until 1992, and is now known as League One.
10. ^ ^{a b c d e} "Milestones". Preston North End FC. 3 January 2008. Archived from the original on 7 March 2009. http://web.archive.org/web/20090307022304/http://www.pnefc.net/page/History/0,,10362~1033950,00.html. Retrieved 22 November 2011. 
11. ^ "Preston North End | Club | History | History | North End Statistics". Pnefc.net. http://www.pnefc.net/page/History/0,,10362~1033911,00.html. Retrieved 25 August 2011. 
12. ^ Roughley, Gregg (Thursday 12 May). "Blackpool fan takes Preston North End rivalry into Countdown studio". Guardian newspaper website. http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2011/may/12/blackpool-fans-mock-preston-countdown. Retrieved 13 May 2011. 
13. ^ "Preston North End – Sponsors Through the Years". Historicalkits.co.uk. http://www.historicalkits.co.uk/Preston_North_End/Preston_North_End.html. Retrieved 25 August 2011. 

External links

• Official Website
• Lilywhite Magic – An unofficial PNE website
• History of Preston North End: 1862–1945
• Preston North End F.C. on BBC Sport: Club News – Recent results – Upcoming fixtures – Club stats
• PNE section on Lancashire Evening Post online site
• PNE Video Archive
• Online video footage of Preston North End winning the 1938 FA Cup
• PNE Team Pics
• PNE Play-off record