Preston North End F.C.

Preston North End

Full name	Preston North End Football Club
Nickname(s)	The Lilywhites
Founded	1880 (1880)
Ground	Deepdale
Capacity	23,404
Manager	Alex Neil
League	Championship
2017–18	Championship, 7th of 24
Website	Club website
Home colours Away colours Third colours

Preston North End Football Club (often shortened to PNE) is a professional football club in Preston, Lancashire, whose team currently plays in the EFL Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Originally a cricket club, Preston have been based at Deepdale since 1875. The club first took up football in 1878 as a winter fitness activity and decided to focus on it in May 1880, when the football club was officially founded. Deepdale is now football's oldest ground in terms of continuous use by a major league club.

Preston North End was a founder member of The Football League in 1888. In the 1888–89 season, the team won both the inaugural league championship and the FA Cup, the latter without conceding a goal. They were the first team to achieve the "Double" in English football and, as they were unbeaten in all matches, are remembered as "The Invincibles". Preston won the league championship again in 1889–90 but their only major success since then has been their 1938 FA Cup Final victory over Huddersfield Town. The club's most famous players have been Tom Finney and Bill Shankly, who are both commemorated at Deepdale by stands named after them. Other notable players were Tommy Docherty, Alan Kelly Sr. and Graham Alexander.

Until 1961, Preston were usually members of the First Division but, having been relegated after the 1960–61 season, they have not yet returned to the top flight. They were first relegated to the Third Division after the 1969–70 season and have spent 28 of the 49 seasons since 1970 in the bottom two divisions, including a span of nineteen seasons from 1981–82 to 1999–2000. Preston have faced serious financial issues and were twice in danger of closure. The club is now owned by businessman Trevor Hemmings and has been established in the EFL Championship since gaining promotion in 2015.

History

Preston North End was founded in 1863, originally as a cricket club, and played their first matches at the Marsh near the River Ribble in the Preston suburb of Ashton. Later that year, they switching to Moor Park in the north of the town, calling themselves "North End" in recognition of the new location. On 21 January 1875, the club leased a field opposite Moor Park on the site of the current Deepdale stadium, which has been their home ever since.^[1]

The club formed a rugby union team in 1877 as a winter fitness activity but this was not a success and, a year later, they played their first game under the rules of association football. In May 1880, a proposal to fully adopt the association code was unanimously accepted and Preston North End Football Club was officially founded.^[1]

Preston became one of the first professional clubs by hiring players from Scotland. In 1887, they beat Hyde 26–0 in the first round of the FA Cup, still a record winning margin in English first-class football. Scottish forward Jimmy Ross scored eight goals in the match before going on to score 19 goals in the competition that season, also still a record.^[2]

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

In 1888–89, Preston became the first league champions and the first winners of "The Double", becoming the only team to date to go throughout an entire season unbeaten in both the league and FA Cup – winning the FA Cup without conceding a goal.^[3] In a contribution to Paul Agnew's 1989 biography of Tom Finney, the player himself wrote: "The club has long been known as Proud Preston, and the Old Invincibles of the previous century set some incredible standards".^[4] The author wrote elsewhere: "...and that team became immortalised as the 'Old Invincibles'".^[5] Other sources call the team "The Invincibles" and both versions of the nickname have been used.^[6] In his autobiography, Finney wrote: "The championship stayed with North End — by now tagged the Old Invincibles — the following year, but runners-up spot had to suffice for the next three seasons".^[7] As Finney said, Preston were league champions again in 1889–90, but have not won the title since. In total, they have been league runners-up six times, including the three consecutive seasons from 1890–91 to 1892–93, and twice in the 1950s when Finney was playing. The club's last major trophy win was in the 1938 FA Cup Final when they defeated Huddersfield Town 1–0 and the team included Bill Shankly, Andy Beattie and goalscorer George Mutch.^[8]

Preston's most famous player, Tom Finney, joined the club as a teenager in 1938. His first team debut was delayed until 1946 by the Second World War but he played for Preston until he retired in 1960. He is generally considered to be one of the greatest footballers of all time and, being local, was nicknamed the "Preston Plumber" due to his professional business as a plumber. Finney remains the club's top goalscorer, with 187 goals from 433 appearances, and also scored 30 international goals for England in 76 appearances.^[9]

A year after Finney's retirement, Preston were relegated to the Second Division and have not played in the top division since. They had a memorable season in 1963–64 when, managed by former player Jimmy Milne, they finished third in the Second Division and reached the 1964 FA Cup Final where they lost a thrilling match 3–2 to West Ham United.

Preston were first relegated to the Third Division after the 1969–70 season. Although they won promotion again immediately, the team have spent 28 of the 49 seasons since 1970 in the bottom two divisions, including a span of nineteen seasons from 1981–82 to 1999–2000. The club experienced a near-terminal decline in the 1980s which brought about the very real threat of closure, the nadir being the 1985–86 season when they finished 23rd in the Fourth Division and had to seek re-election to the league.

Under David Moyes, Preston were Division Two champions in 2000, and narrowly missed out on promotion to the Premier League the following season.

Under manager John McGrath, the team recovered and won promotion back to the Third Division only a year later but it was a false dawn as the team spent another three years in the bottom division from 1993 to 1996. The club finally began to recover and move forward after a takeover by Baxi in 1994 but their ownership ended in June 2002.^[10][11] The team's central defender David Moyes, then aged 34, began his managerial career when appointed by the Baxi-controlled board in February 1998. Moyes was successful and managed the team to the third tier championship in 2000. Preston reached the 2001 play-off final but were defeated by Bolton Wanderers. In the 2005 play-off final, under Moyes' successor Billy Davies, Preston were beaten 1–0 by West Ham United.^[12]

Following the Baxi sell-off and the departure of Moyes to Everton in 2002, the team was established at second tier level through the 2000s but more problems arose at the end of the decade with an Inland Revenue winding-up order in 2010 and relegation to the third tier in 2011. The taxation issue was resolved by local businessman Trevor Hemmings, already a shareholder, who bought a controlling interest in June 2010.^[13] The team were promoted again, via the play-offs, in 2015 and have been well-placed in the EFL Championship since then.

Deepdale was the original cricket club's home from 1875 and has been a football venue from 1878. It is the world's oldest football ground in terms of continuous use by a club in a major league. When Baxi took control, they embarked on an investment programme which had the main goal of upgrading Deepdale into a modern stadium. The old ground was demolished and rebuilt in four stages and the last of the new stands was opened in 2008. Part of the redevelopment was the original National Football Museum which opened at Deepdale in 2001, though it closed in 2010 due to funding issues and was relocated to Manchester in 2012.^[14]

Ground

Deepdale stadium.

The site of the current Deepdale stadium was first leased by the club in 1875 and was first used for association football in 1878. The biggest attendance seen was 42,684 for a Division One clash with Arsenal in April 1938. Following a complete reconstruction between 1996 and 2009, the stadium has a seated capacity of 23,404. The current pitch dimensions are 110 x 75 yards.^[15]

Statue

The Splash commemorates Preston legend Tom Finney.

Outside the Sir Tom Finney Stand is a statue of the famous player himself, which is known as "The Splash" or the "Tom Finney Splash". The statue, sculpted by Peter Hodgkinson and unveiled in July 2004, was inspired by a famous photograph taken at the Chelsea versus PNE game in 1956, played at Stamford Bridge in particularly wet conditions.^[15]

Players

As of 11 August 2018.^[16]

Current squad

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

No. Position Player 1 GK Declan Rudd 2 DF Darnell Fisher 3 DF Josh Earl 4 MF Ben Pearson 5 DF Tom Clarke (captain) 6 DF Ben Davies 7 FW Callum Robinson 8 MF Alan Browne 9 FW Louis Moult 10 FW Josh Harrop 11 MF Daniel Johnson 12 MF Paul Gallagher 13 GK Michael Crowe 14 DF Jordan Storey 15 DF Calum Woods 16 DF Andrew Hughes

No. Position Player 18 MF Ryan Ledson 19 FW Graham Burke 21 FW Brandon Barker (on loan from Manchester City) 22 GK Chris Maxwell 23 DF Paul Huntington 24 FW Seán Maguire 26 FW Michael Howard 27 FW Connor Simpson 29 FW Tom Barkhuizen 30 MF Jack Baxter 31 DF Tom Stead 32 MF Adam O'Reilly 33 DF Marnick Vermijl 34 MF Ben Pringle 39 FW Billy Bodin 45 FW Lukas Nmecha (on loan from Manchester City)

Out on loan

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

No. Position Player 20 DF Andy Boyle (at Dundee until 7 January 2019)[17] 25 DF Kevin O'Connor (at Crewe Alexandra until 7 January 2019)[18]

No. Position Player 28 GK Mathew Hudson (at Bury until 1 January 2019)[19] 51 DF Tommy Spurr (at Fleetwood Town until end of season)[20]

Technical staff

Below is a list of non-playing personnel:^[21][22]

Managerial history

As of 23 August 2018

The following is a list of Preston North End managers since 1986, excluding caretakers:^[23][24]

Manager	Nationality	Period	Total					League
			G	W	D	L	Win %	G	W	D	L	Win %	Point Av.
John McGrath	England	1986–1990	192	74	53	65	38.54	165	68	45	54	41.21	1.51
Les Chapman	England	1990–1992	129	44	30	55	34.11	118	39	29	50	33.05	1.24
John Beck	England	1992–1994	99	36	20	43	36.36	87	31	19	37	35.63	1.29
Gary Peters	England	1994–1998	166	72	42	52	43.37	143	63	37	43	44.06	1.58
David Moyes	Scotland	1998–2002	234	113	60	61	48.29	196	95	53	48	48.47	1.72
Craig Brown	Scotland	2002–2004	106	36	30	40	33.96	97	32	28	37	32.99	1.28
Billy Davies	Scotland	2004–2006	101	45	35	21	45.55	87	40	31	16	45.98	1.74
Paul Simpson	England	2006–2007	67	27	14	26	40.30	62	25	14	23	40.32	1.44
Alan Irvine	Scotland	2007–2009	110	45	25	40	40.90	99	40	24	35	40.40	1.45
Darren Ferguson	Scotland	2010	49	13	11	25	26.53	45	11	11	23	24.44	0.98
Phil Brown	England	2011	51	15	15	21	29.41	42	13	11	18	30.95	1.19
Graham Westley	England	2012–2013	62	16	23	23	25.81	52	11	21	20	21.15	1.04
Simon Grayson	England	2013–2017	235	104	74	57	44.26	198	84	67	47	42.42	1.61
Alex Neil	Scotland	2017–	54	22	17	15	40.74	50	20	17	13	40.00	1.54

Honours

Club records

• Most Goals (Overall): Tom Finney, 210 goals from 473 appearances.
• Most League Goals: Tom Finney, 187 goals from 433 appearances.
• Most League Goals in a Season: Ted Harper, 37 in Football League Second Division, 1932–33^[26]
• Record Attendance: 42,684 v Arsenal, Football League First Division, 23 April 1938^[26]
• Record Cup Victory: 26–0 v Hyde, FA Cup, 15 October 1887^[26]
• Record League Victory: 10–0 v Stoke, Football League Division One, 14 September 1889^[26]
• Record Defeat: 0–7 v Blackpool, Division 1, 1 May 1948
• Transfer Record (Paid): £1,500,000 for David Healy from Manchester United, December 2000^[26]
• Transfer Record (Received): £10,000,000 for Jordan Hugill to West Ham Utd, January 2018^[27]
• Youngest Ever Player: Brandon Zibaka 16 years and 161 days^[28]
• Oldest Ever Player: Bob Kelly 41 years and two months^[29]

Rivals

Historically, Preston North End's main rivalry has been with Blackpool and the West Lancashire derby between the two clubs has been contested across all four divisions of the Football League since 1901.^[30] Preston's local rivals in the league in recent years have included Burnley, Blackburn Rovers, Bolton Wanderers and Wigan Athletic.

Sponsors

The club's main sponsors since shirt sponsorship was introduced in 1979 have been as follows:^[31]

Women's football

The previously affiliated women's football team was called Preston North End W.F.C. In May 2016, they became Fylde Ladies F.C., in association with National League North side A.F.C. Fylde.^[32]

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Preston North End F.C..

• Official Website
• PNE section on Lancashire Evening Post online site
• Preston North End at Soccerbase
• History of Preston North End: 1862–1945
• Online video footage of Preston North End winning the 1938 FA Cup
• Preston North End F.C. on BBC Sport: Club news – Recent results and fixtures