The Preston North End Miscellany E-Book

David Clayton

• Herausgeber: The History Press
• Kategorie: Lebensstil
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 140

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2017

Beschreibung

The Preston North End Miscellany – a book on the Lilywhites like no other, packed with facts, stats, trivia, stories and legend. From the days of Tom Finney to the management of Darren Ferguson – from the FA Cup triumphs and league titles of yesteryear to the man-mountain that is Jon Parkin, The Preston North End Miscellany is the ultimate book of trivia on the club and a treasure trove of information that you can dip in and out of at your leisure. A book that will make you smile, laugh out loud, sigh and reflect with hundreds of stories about why this club remains one of the best in the world, despite an absence from the top-flight stretching back . . . well, let's look forward instead of behind! A book no self-respecting PNE fan should be without.

Leseprobe

For my old mate Neil Scott

First published 2010

The History Press

The Mill, Brimscombe Port

Stroud, Gloucestershire, GL5 2QG

www.thehistorypress.co.uk

This ebook edition first published in 2017

© David Clayton, 2010

The right of David Clayton to be identified as the Author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyrights, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

This ebook is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licensed or publicly performed or used in any way except as specifically permitted in writing by the publishers, as allowed under the terms and conditions under which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorised distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the author’s and publisher’s rights, and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly.

EPUB ISBN 978 0 7509 8396 9

Typesetting and origination by The History Press

eBook converted by Geethik Technologies

AUTHOR’S ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Any work on Preston North End Football Club is going to be steeped in history and this book is no different. Of course, being a miscellany, it’s packed with snippets rather than lengthy essays – for that is the nature of the beast (not Jon Parkin). I’ve tried to uncover as many facts I think may be of interest to PNE fans as I can and present them informally and, hopefully, in a readable and entertaining format – if you think I have by the time you read the last page, I’ve done my job. There are plenty of stats, too, with some fascinating records recounted in the following pages as well as plenty of vignettes on the events and people who have contributed to this great club’s history.

In the research and writing of this book, I’d like to thank former Lilywhites player and boss Les Chapman for writing the foreword for me. Thanks also to Will Unwin, Alex Rowen, Ian Rigby and Mike Payne. I’d also like to thank Michelle Tilling at The History Press for all her patience – particularly her patience! – support and encouragement. I hope you enjoy The Preston North End Miscellany and maybe find out one of two things you didn’t know about this grand old club.

David Clayton, 2010

INTRODUCTION

There are sleeping giants and then there is Preston North End. This club did more in its early years than almost any other, but modern times have been lean to say the least. Eight failed play-off attempts tell their own story but one day, the Lilywhites will rise again and return to the top division where they belong. Let’s face it, any side that can boast Tom Finney and Bill Shankly among its former players must be a bit special. . . .

FOREWORD

By former North End player and managerLes Chapman

I arrived at Deepdale in 1986 as player/assistant manager working alongside the charismatic John McGrath. I was soon aware of a massive expectancy at the club because of the history and tradition and, of course, having arguably the best player in the world of his generation in the shape of Sir Tom Finney, who I had the pleasure of meeting on numerous occasions.

We had a great start and eventually gained promotion in the first season. I can honestly say that I enjoyed my playing days at Preston as much as anywhere I’ve played throughout my career. After spells at Oldham (twice), Huddersfield, Bradford, Rochdale, Stockport (twice) and San José Earthquakes, that’s a fair indictment of the esteem I hold Preston North End in. I finished my playing career with the Lilywhites and unfortunately only scored one goal – but it did happened to be the winner at Leyton Orient which secured promotion for us! It’s the quality, not the quantity!

We had a great mix of experience and youth in the team, with the likes of Frank Worthington, John Thomas, Sam Allardyce, Osher Williams, Bob Atkins and others, and not only were we successful we had a great team spirit and a lot of fun! When you have big characters in the dressing room you are guaranteed a daily dose of levity and adventure.

The manager himself was a larger than life character and what he lacked in academic acumen he more than made up for in his humour and knowledge of the game – he may have had trouble with his spelling, but he could tie even the sharpest of directors up in knots when it came to talking football.

Most of the nicknames of the players at that time were derived from how John wrote out their names for a training session; for instance Gary Brazil was ‘Barzil,’ Bob Atkins was ‘Akins’ and so on – you can imagine how he struggled with Ronnie Hildersley!

Anyway, as time went by the inevitable happened – John left the club and I took over. What a difference that made to my life. It’s a job of incredible extremes: when you’re winning it’s the best job in the world, but when you lose, it’s the worst. I don’t know whether being close to the players as a player helped or hindered – maybe it is a bit of both, I suppose.

It was a great experience, though, and opened up other avenues for me. I left in 1992 to join Manchester City, where I still work to this day but I can honestly say the Preston North End experience was an eventful and enjoyable one!

Les Chapman, 2010

ONLY ONE LAWRO

Tommy Lawrenson, father of BBC Match of the Day pundit Mark, played for North End between 1949 and 1955 – but managed just one appearance in all that time. A stalwart of the reserve team during his spell at the club, Tommy was always on the fringes of the side, but never quite made the kind of impression he hoped to.

SAFE GROUND

Deepdale is the oldest continually used football ground in the world. PNE are one of just a handful of clubs to play at the stadium they initially began at.

STATUESQUE SIR TOM

Unveiled in 2004, the statue of Sir Tom Finney sits proudly outside Deepdale. It was inspired by a photograph taken during a match between North End and Chelsea at Stamford Bridge in 1956 when the great man was pictured in a pool of water during a sodden encounter. Sculpted by Sardarjee Om Puri, the monument pays tribute to the player and that watery moment.

NO-ONE LIKES THEM – WE DON’T CARE

Scoring goals for fun and racing out of the blocks for the 1930/31 campaign, North End recorded their record aggregate league away win on 4 October. Though a trip to Cold Blow Lane (says it all, really) was never considered for the annual book of ‘Happy Days on the Road’, Preston needed to continue their bright form and leave Millwall with both points. It was a game that ebbed and flowed, with the visitors 3–2 up at the break – having now been involved in 40 goals either way from their opening eight-and-a-half games, few expected there would be no further scoring – and they were right. The Lilywhites led 7–3 with five minutes left, but the spirited Lions pulled a couple more back before full-time to make it Millwall 5, North End 7 – a remarkable game. The hosts had their revenge later in the campaign, winning 3–1 at Deepdale and the following season won 4–1 at The Den.

OUR MAN FLINT?

England all-rounder and cricket legend Freddie Flintoff began life as a North End fan. As a child, he attended Deepdale regularly, but as his cricket career took off, he drifted away from football and has now adopted Manchester City as his team of choice. He admits he’ll always have a soft spot for the Lilywhites, however, and always looks for the club’s results.

SLIMFAST SIMON

Former Barnsley boss Simon Davey, a PNE player between 1995 and 1998, contracted food poisoning during his first season at Deepdale. Now manager at Hereford, the illness caused Davey to lose 17lbs in the space of week – something Simon, who has piled those lost pounds back on in recent years, would probably welcome today. . .

BOYS IN BLUE 0, BOYS IN WHITE 1

When North End agreed to take on Preston Police in February 1912, the footballers won by 22 – but it was points, not goals, as the game in question was a billiards challenge rather than a footy match.

SNATCH OF THE DAY

Gary Lineker once scored a goal for Preston during a 1–1 draw with Leicester City in November 1979. Sadly, the future England man and Match of the Day presenter was in Leicester colours when he put through his own goal. Ah, well. . .

BOOK EARLY!

Season 1979/80 was the first North End wore shirt sponsorship. The deal was with Pontins, the UK holiday giant famed for corny TV ads in the 1970s. If not the glamour deal some fans had been hoping for, it at least showed the club were forward-thinking, being one of only four clubs in the country to have struck a shirt deal.

THE LAST LION

David Nugent’s one and only England cap in 2007 was the last time a North Ender played for England. Nugent scored a 93rd-minute goal against Andorra in Barcelona to mark his debut in style, but has never played for his country again. Prior to that, the last England player North End had was Tommy Thompson way back in 1957. He won just one cap (is there a pattern forming here?). Tom Finney won 76 caps while at Deepdale and is unlikely to be overtaken any time soon. Finney won his first cap in 1946 and his last 12 years later in 1958. In fact, no other North End player has even reached double figures for England, with Fred Dewhurst managing 9 – plus 11 goals – between 1886 and 1889.

PLAYER OF THE YEAR

Season 1967/68 was the first year the club awarded a Player of the Year Trophy and Alan Kelly was the inaugural proud recipient of the honour. Kelly notched up 44 appearances during the campaign, though he never found his way on to the score sheet.

WHAT’S UP, DOC?

Former North End player and ex-Manchester United boss Tommy Docherty proved the old adage ‘you can never go back’ to be true when he returned to Deepdale to take the reins for the start of the 1981/82 season. With the club celebrating its centenary season (a year late according to some historians), hopes were high that the Doc could perhaps inspire the Lilywhites to promotion, but by December and with just 17 league games played, Docherty was shown the door with his negative style driving fans away as the goals and entertainment dried up.

WEEPING WILLOWS

North End bade a fond farewell to their old training ground in 1982 when they quit Willow Farm to move to new premises between Preston and Grimsargh.

TWO PLACES AT ONCE?

The Lilywhites played two friendlies at the same time on the same day in September 1911. Whether or not they’d double-booked and felt obliged to play both games is not known, but the squads, diluted or not, won both, beating Chorley 2–0 and Merthyr Town 4–1.

COMMON KNOWLEDGE

Alf Common graced Deepdale for a short time during his distinguished career. The former England, Sunderland and Middlesbrough forward arrived part-way through the 1912/13 season and helped inspire North End to the Second Division title. Common was the first English footballer to be transferred for £1,000 when he joined Boro in 1905. PNE purchased him for slightly less, paying £250, and Common played 35 times and scored 8 goals before retiring in 1914.

BEEFY BOTHER

When the Lilywhites travelled to the Old Showground to take on Scunthorpe United two days after Christmas 1983, the players didn’t know whether to wear shin pads or cricket pads when they learned legendary England cricket all-rounder Ian Botham was named in the starting XI. Playing at centre-half, ‘Beefy’ was marking North End striker Steve Elliott but instead of being bowled over, Elliott – in cricket terms – hit Botham all over the park as he scored a hat-trick during a 5–1 win for the vistors.

PNE ORIGINS

Preston North End may have been associated with football for over a century, but the original traces of the Lancashire side can be traced as far back as 1863, when the club was initially founded as a cricket team. Originally named Preston Nelson, the club underwent a name change in the 1860s and was relabelled Preston North End. This change was based simply on the fact that the club played their matches in northern Preston. In August 1867, the cricket side began to struggle financially and a number of new members joined the club – future Chairman William Sudell was one such member. Despite the club’s deepening financial crisis, Preston risked their future by taking a lease out on Deepdale Farm in January 1875. This was, however, to prove the first step in creating Preston North End FC and the club introduced football and rugby to the farm as a means of generating new income. The PNE rugby team couldn’t compete with its more established local rivals and it took only two years before the club decided to scrap their involvement in the sport and focus solely on association football.

Having played their first game against Eagley in October 1878, Preston North End FC was fast on its way to being founded and in 1880 the club was officially established. The club was to be led by a ‘sporting panel’ which included local businessman Major William Sudell. Sudell had noted the accomplishments of rival amateur clubs and was sure that success in football would eventually result in financial stability and so went about recruiting the best local talent, as well as a number of players from north of the border. In 1883, many names moved from Scotland to Deepdale on the promise that they would receive jobs and be paid well for their involvement with the club. This approach led to accusations of ‘professionalism’ and in 1885 the FA expelled PNE from the FA Cup for fielding a professional side in the amateur game. A number of clubs criticised this decision and threatened to break away and create their own league, believing professional football to be ‘the way forward’. In order to combat a potential club revolt, an FA sub-committee – which included Sudell – was established. In July 1885, the payment of players became legalised and the professional game was born.

As an original founder member of the Football League, Preston North End was established as a professional football side in 1888 and went on to dominate the league for two years. Their first ever professional team, now known as ‘The Invincibles’, won the league without defeat and the FA Cup without conceding a goal. A year later, the Lilywhites won their second consecutive title. Thanks to the investment of Sudell, PNE soon established themselves as a major force in English football and in 1893 the PNEFC limited company was created.

DREAM SCENARIO

Imagine if North End could confirm the title at home by beating Blackpool on the last day of the season? Oh, and throw in the Seasiders being relegated, just for good measure? Well, that’s exactly what happened on 26 April 1913 – sort of. The title was definitely Preston’s thanks to nearest challengers Burnley’s midweek failure to beat Barnsley. Blackpool arrived already demoted from the Second Division, but didn’t want to be at Deepdale with the home fans gearing up to celebrate, so they didn’t make life easy, but the hosts still won 2–1. Those were the days.

DON’T GO THE MANCUNIAN WAY . . . !

With Tommy Docherty, Bobby Charlton and Nobby Stiles all taking the hot-seat at Deepdale in the space of a decade, it was Manchester City’s turn in 1985/86. First former City stalwart Tommy Booth took over for the remainder of the 1984/85 campaign – one that ended in relegation for the Lilywhites – then former City striker (and ex-Red) Brian Kidd had a go after Booth resigned – but only lasted two months following a dreadful run of results.

ALAN KELLY: KEEPER EXTRAORDINAIRE

Republic of Ireland and North End legend Alan Kelly is one of the best keepers to ever grace Deepdale. He holds the club record for appearances and his sons Alan junior and Gary both went on to become professional keepers. He also played in the 1964 FA Cup final and won the first ever Player of the Year award in 1968. He made 447 league appearances for PNE, but it was his amazing consistency that made him one of the club’s best-loved keepers. In five successive seasons from 1966, he missed just five games out of a possible 214 league fixtures and, more impressively, was never dropped.