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HAVING narrowly missed out on promotion to the Premiership after losing to West Ham United in the play-off final, Preston North End will be hoping they can go one better and earn promotion during the 2005-06 season.  They were as well, of course, the club of the legendary Preston Plumber, Sir Tom Finney...

The Club and The Ground

PRESTON NORTH END are a club steeped in tradition and formerly a force to be reckoned with in English football, the club are beginning to make a revival and, with a refurbished stadium and a passionate fan base, they could certainly go on to become an established top Division club again.

In recent years, the club has re-developed three-quarters of the ground.  However, plans to redevelop the fourth side of the ground are on hold until promotion to the Premier League. The club has secured planning permission for a new stand with 9,000 seats and a row of executive boxes, however until they have the funds, Deepdale’s current capacity of just over 20,000 is deemed acceptable. 

The three newly-built stands, at each end and at one side of the pitch, are of the same height and style and are all large, covered and single-tier. Each has a likeness of a past player outlined on the seats and is named after that player. An interesting point is that the roof on two of these, the Alan Kelly Town End and the Tom Finney Stand are largely transparent. This allows natural light to reach virtually all of the pitch. 

The one old stand that remains now is the Pavilion Stand at one side of the pitch. This was built in the 1930's and has about 1,000 seats (running half the length of the pitch) whilst the open terrace in front is no longer used. The seats are covered and a scaffolding TV gantry hangs from its roof. 

Hatters fans are housed in the Bill Shankly Kop, which is shared with home fans – on a sunny day it’s a blessing to have sunglasses or a cap to keep the sun out of your eyes. 

Normally, the allocation for away fans is approximately half of this stand (3,000 seats) and it is shared with home supporters. However, for teams with a large away support, then the whole end can be allocated, raising the allocation to 6,000.

The views of the playing action and facilities within this stand are excellent. The stand is particularly steep, meaning that fans are kept relatively close to the pitch. On the concourse there are TV's by the refreshment serving areas showing the game live and with the bars being open during the game. There is a wide range of food available including bacon rolls, roll over hot dogs, burgers and even vegetarian 'butter' pies.  

This should be one of the better away trips as Preston fans are a friendly bunch and the stewarding and policing is generally relaxed - the only exceptions being games against local rivals Burnley and Blackpool. 

Outside the stadium are two items of interest, the National Football Museum and a statue of Sir Tom Finney, modeled on a famous picture of him sliding through a puddle at Stamford Bridge in 1954. The museum is located at the corner of the ground between the Bill Shankly and Tom Finney Stands and is well worth a visit. The first part takes the visitor back through the decades with reminders of general social history interwoven with footballing memories, then works it’s way back up to the present day with a myriad of memorabilia. The second part contains several interactive exhibits including the opportunity to present Match of the Day and then you can finish up in their shop.

The museum is well worth a visit and an hour or so will allow you to scratch the surface and find some Luton references – for instance there’s some items from Tom Finney’s last game (against Luton). 

Ground Guide courtesy of the excellent Internet Football Ground Guide.

With thanks to Ian Driscoll for his contribution.

History - Preston North End Football Club

PRESTON North End can be traced back to 1863, but at that time it was linked with cricket and the first game of football was fifteen years away. In the early 1860’s cricket was the only organised game of note in the town and the normal venue for this activity was the Marsh, an irregular stop of land on the Ribble Estuary at Ashton and which today is the site for the GEC works. Cricket can be linked with Wellfield Road School.

In that year there was a split amongst the club members when the majority opted for a move to Moor Park where the Corporation had opened a public Cricket ground, The newly formed club using Moor Park was named North End simply as an indication of the clubs base being in the north end of the town.

The first President was George Howarth and subscriptions were 2d a week. The club fell on hard times and almost disbanded, but new members were recruited to ease the financial crisis and one of these new comers was William Suddell who became a member on 3rd August 1867 when he was 16-years-old, having lived in the town all his life. He was a good swimmer and cyclist, a keen cricketer and a very good rugby forward.

In spite of the financial problems not being resolved, the members made a memorable and courageous step on 21st January 1875 when they took a lease on a field at Deepdale, a field which was to be the home of the finest football team of the era.

Playing cricket and dabbling in other games such as lacrosse and rounders were not financially viable and so in 1877 members turned to rugby. Unfortunately, this venture was a failure since the club could not compete with the Grasshoppers who were already a well-established force. On the 5th October 1878 North End played its first game under association rules against Eagley, the game was played at Deepdale and was lost 1-0. For the record the team that played this game were: - W Sudell, W Turner, J Sefton, T Charnley, T Wadeson, J Wadeson, C Miller, T Parkinson, JF Dodgson, R Green and H S Carmel (Cpt).

The success of other clubs on Lancashire who were playing soccer had not gone unnoticed at Deepdale and in May 1880 a resolution proposing the adoption of the association code was proposed by Mr Harry Carmel and seconded by William Charnley and was carried unanimously.

In March of 1881 North End played Blackburn Rovers and were beaten 10-0. This reverse following a defeat in the Lancashire Cup versus Turton did not however diminish enthusiasm and the next big leap forward was in the summer of 1883 when William Sudell, having seen tactics employed by neighbouring clubs went north to Scotland and obtained the services of N J Ross from Heart of Midlothian, Ross became one of the best full backs of his time, other players who came from Scotland were Drummond, Russell and Gordon. Thus was formed the nucleus of the team which was to make North End so famous.

In 1884 following a draw against Upton Park at Deepdale a protest was made to the FA about the eligibility of some Preston players, but the basic reason for the protest was that Preston were paying their players. Sudell did not deny this so following expulsion from Cup competition he commenced his historical move to have professionalism legalised in that same year James Ross (younger brother of NJ) and Sam Thomson came down from Scotland and Robert Howarth, a local boy joined the club as full-back.

The success which Sudell brought to Deepdale and the short time taken to achieve this is illustrated by the fact that from 22 August 1885 to 26 April 1886, North End were undefeated and during the season won 59 out of 64 matches, scoring 318 goals and conceding only 60.

In 1886 Sudell completed his team building with the signing of a centre forward, John Goodall, and the Invincibles were on their way to making football history. Another season worthy of note was in the season 1887-88 when North End won 42 consecutive matches, but there was bitter disappointment when ,as hot favourites, they were beaten 2-1 in the Cup Final on 24 March 1888 by West Bromwich Albion.

However, next season 1888-89 not only were they founder members of the league but they won the FA Cup and were the first team to achieve the double, doing this at the first opportunity. In 1889-90 North End were again League Champions and were runners up in the following three seasons. A limited company was formed in 1893 which was the end of the Sudell reign but the genius of a man who could build such a team and which justly earned the name the Invincibles is fully recognised today. North End is the only club from the founder Members of the Football League who have played continuously on the same ground. Deepdale has been the venue for soccer for over a century.

The period before the First World War is often referred to as yo-yo when North End were relegated to the Second Division on two occasions and immediately came back.

In 1922 they once more reached the FA Cup Final but were beaten 1-0 by Huddersfield Town who scored from a penalty. 1924 saw the retirement of one of the Clubs great stalwarts, Joe McCall who had played at Deepdale for 20 seasons.

From September 1925 for four seasons Alex James was a favourite whose transfer to Arsenal in 1929 hit the football headlines when the fee involved was reported to be £9,000.

Following the departure of James, relegation to the Third Division was twice narrowly avoided but what happened later with a Management Committee of four under the Chairmanship of the late JI Taylor was a modern football romance. Holdcroft, Lowe, Harper, Rowley, Tremelling, Shankly, Gallimore and Dougal were signed and promotion was gained in 1934. The two Beatties Andy and Bobbie (unrelated) together with Mutch, Smith, Milne, Fagan and the O'Donnell brothers were among the many Scots who came to Deepdale.

North End reached the Cup Final in 1937 when they lost to Sunderland and in 1938 when they reversed the result of the 1922 Final by beating Huddersfield Town 1-0, the winning goal came from the first penalty awarded at Wembley, and was scored by George Mutch with the last kick of extra-time.

After the war and until his retirement in 1960 the skill of Tom Finney was the most important aspect of football at Deepdale. His genius and gentlemanly conduct was and still is, and example for all footballers to follow and brought great credit, not just to the maestro but also to his home town of Preston. The honour of being made Freeman of the Borough and the award of the CBE for services to football was just reward for this footballing legend, Sadly North Ends defeat, 3-2 by West Bromwich Albion in the Cup Final of 1954, did not result in a Cup Winners Medal and another disappointment was in 1953 when the First Division Championship was lost to Arsenal on a goal average difference of one.

As with so many other League Clubs the decline in the fortunes of North End started with the abolition of the maximum wage and with the concentration of successful clubs within the larger cities where stadiums could be filled by drawing on a relatively small percentage of the population.

North End reached Wembley again in 1964 when they lost what is still considered to be a classic final against West ham United, the team included a young Howard Kendall.

North End is also proud to be linked with the footballing feats of goalkeeper Alan Kelly who joined the club in 1958 from Drumcondra and, until his enforced retirement, following a shoulder injury sustained in the game against Bristol City on 15 September 1973, gave sterling service, his record speaks for itself. He was first choice goalkeeper for 13 seasons and holds the Club record of 447 league appearances. (Keeping 126 clean sheets) and 47 caps for Eire.

North End's most recent visit to Wembley came in the 1993-94 season when the team reached the third Division play-offs. Torquay United were the opponents for the first round, with the match being played at Plainmoor, Torquay won 2-0. The second round was played on Wednesday 18 May 1994 when memorable scenes were witnessed at Deepdale. North End went one goal up within the first ten minutes, only to see a two-goal advantage regained before half time, plus, Torquay gained the valuable away goal. The sending off of Torquay defender Darren Moore ten minutes before half-time spurred Preston on. They scored twice in the second half to take the game to extra time, Torquay looked like holding out and winning on the away goals rule until Paul Raynor scored with only four minutes let on the clock and so North End were to feature once more at Wembley. 

Preston played Wycombe Wanderers in the final and unfortunately lost 2-4 having been 2-1 up at half-time.

In 1996, however, everything went the way of North End and under the management of Gary Peters the club was promoted as Champions of Division Three. During the Championship season the Sir Tom Finney Stand was opened, named in recognition of the maestro, the start of the redevelopment of Deepdale into a stadium for the 21st Century.

This Sir Tom Finney Stand is the home of restaurants and a Conference Centre. The stand seats between 7,000 and 8,000 fans and has match day facilities for spectators on concourses within the stand.

The next stage of the ground re-development to be completed was the Bill Shankly Stand, which was formerly the Spion Kop Stand. The work started in December 1997 and was completed in June 1998. This stand now houses a fitness centre and football museum.

Standing on the Town End became a thing of the past as the stand was demolished in mid-March. The new stand is currently being worked on and is due to open in October.

The completion of the stadium is dependant on the performance of the team, so in effect, if the team go up a division then the stadium development will continue.

After Gary Peters’ resignation in January 1998, David Moyes took over as Manager and in his first full season in charge he led the club to its highest League finish since the 1980-81 season, only losing out to Gillingham in the play-offs. The following season, David went one better as he guided Preston to the Second Division title, and a place in the First Division for the first time in 20 years.

Last season Moyes excelled himself once again, as he steered the side to a highly impressive 4th position in Division One. This meant the play-offs once again and, having beaten Birmingham on penalties in the semi final, North End travelled to the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff to face Bolton Wanderers. Although Bolton took a deserved lead in the first-half, it was North End who had most of the play in the second period. Despite putting the opposition under substantial pressure, Preston could not get an equaliser and Bolton ensured victory with two late goals, the 3-0 score line an untrue reflection of the game.

The 2001-02 season was a year of departures.

In October club chairman Bryan Gray ended a seven year tenure at North End and announced his resignation at the club's AGM. Deputy chairman Derek Shaw took over in the interim.

Nine days in March saw the end of an era at North End as Jon Macken and David Moyes both departed the club.

Macken left for Manchester City in a club record £5million deal while David Moyes moved to Premiership club Everton.

Kelham O'Hanlon took over temporary charge of management matters and despite difficult circumstances guided the club to a creditable eighth position a whisker away from the play-offs.

The close season saw a wind of change sweep through the Deepdale corridors.

The first big change saw former Scotland manager Craig Brown unveiled as new first team manager. Kelham O'Hanlon was rewarded for his good work by retaining his assistant managers role while former Motherwell boss Billy Davies was brought in as first team coach.

The influx of new faces continued as Jamaican international Ricardo Fuller became the first signing of the new era.

In late June, Baxi Partnership finally ended their association with PNE when their remaining shares were bought out by 'Friends of Preston North End' - a new company formed by club chairman Derek Shaw and Steve Jackson, the Managing Director of New Reg Ltd, the Club's official shirt sponsor.

However, Brown's reign was unsuccessful and Billy Davies took charge and set about a remarkable run of results that lifted the club into the play-off places.  They reached the 2004-05 play-off final but, at The Millennium Stadium, were beaten 0-1 by West Ham United and denied a dream place in the Premiership.

Davies led the club back to the play-offs yet again the following season but, after finishing 4th in the Championship, they were beaten 1-3 over two-legs in the semi-finals by 5th placed Leeds United, who went on to lost to Watford in the final.

With the highly-rated Davies at the helm, Preston will be looking to finally achieve promotion to the Premiership at the third time of asking in 2006-07.

History courtesy of the Official Preston North End Website.

Luton Town vPreston North End...

A full rundown of all of the past meetings

Home Matches   Sep 17 1949 D2 D 1 1 20135 Oct 7 1950 D2 L 1 2 16637 Aug 31 1955 D1 W 2 1 24174 Nov 10 1956 D1 D 1 1 18721 Feb 22 1958 D1 L 1 3 22549 Sep 27 1958 D1 W 4 1 23056 Nov 28 1959 D1 L 1 3 17174 Aug 19 1961 D2 W 4 1 14109 Sep 5 1962 D2 L 0 2 6702 Aug 28 1971 D2 D 1 1 11772 Aug 19 1972 D2 W 1 0 11507 Apr 6 1974 D2 W 4 2 11806 Dec 9 1978 D2 L 1 2 7036 Oct 27 1979 D2 D 1 1 11648 Dec 13 1980 D2 W 4 2 7874 Feb 22 1997 ND2 W 5 1 6896 Nov 8 1997 ND2 L 1 3 5767 Aug 15 1998 ND2 D 1 1 5392 Nov 13 1999 ND2 L 0 2 5124 Statto's Corner

Away Matches   Jan 21 1950 D2 W 1 0 23532 Feb 24 1951 D2 L 0 1 31096 Aug 24 1955 D1 L 1 2 30770 Mar 23 1955 D1 L 0 2 23361 Oct 12 1957 D1 L 0 1 25403 Apr 6